UNITED STATES

The trustee overseeing the bankruptcy of MF Global filed on Tuesday for permission to release 60 percent of the near $900 million in client cash that has been frozen at the commodity brokerage for more than two weeks.

South African stocks ended flat on Wednesday with the weak rand supporting exporters and platinum miners such as Northam, which investors were starting to view as oversold.

Ghana will raise spending by over 12 percent to tackle poverty in a 2012 election year but will keep finances in check with higher state revenues, President John Atta Mills' government pledged in a budget on Wednesday.

British singer Adele said she was on the mend after undergoing microsurgery in Boston to treat a benign polyp on her vocal cords.

Given the increasing presence of women in high levels of politics around the world, I am wondering what the “standard protocol” for such greetings should be?

The risks U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil took on when signing a deal with Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdistan region could be coming back to hurt them.

Enbridge Inc surged past its competitors in the race to send large volumes of oil locked up in the U.S. midcontinent to the giant Gulf Coast refining hub after the $1.15 billion acquisition of ConocoPhillip's Seaway pipeline.

Gold extended an earlier slide on Wednesday in its largest one-day fall this month as the escalating euro zone debt crisis kept the euro near one-month lows against the dollar, making it more attractive to non-U.S. investors to sell bullion.

Mother-of pearl dashboards and diamond-encrusted hood ornaments at the Dubai International Motor Show this week underlined how the safe-haven status of the United Arab Emirates is fuelling dramatic growth in sales of luxury cars.

ConocoPhillips plans to sell its interest in two U.S. pipeline companies for $2 billion as part of its strategy to shed assets it no longer considers strategic.

Stocks fell early Wednesday as policymakers warned Europe's debt crisis posed dangers to the global economy and on signs the contagion was starting to spread to larger European nations.

Generic drugs would have an easier path to U.S. markets under a bill due to be introduced in the Senate, said Democratic Senator Jeff Bingaman, a sponsor of the bill.

TransCanada Corp is committed to building the $7 billion Keystone XL project despite a 12-to-18-month delay in U.S. approvals, the company's chief executive said on Wednesday.

Canadian stocks looked set to open lower on Wednesday along with commodities on investor fear of contagion from the weakest debt-ridden euro zone economies such as Greece into bigger ones such as Italy, Spain and even France.

Stocks were set to open lower on Wednesday as policymakers warned Europe's debt crisis posed dangers to the global economy and on growing signs the contagion was starting to spread to larger European nations.

Sales of existing homes in Canada rose in October to the highest level since January, boosting forecasts for national resale activity for 2011 and confirming Canada's housing market remains robust.

The Swiss cabinet approved on Wednesday an amendment to a tax agreement with the United States to ensure that bank clients are properly informed about requests from U.S. authorities for data on suspected tax dodgers.

Target Corp posted a much bigger-than-expected jump in quarterly profit on Wednesday as shoppers responded to its 5 percent discount for cardholders.

Canada's communications regulator handed a partial victory on Tuesday to big Internet service providers by allowing them to charge lease fees based on the amount of capacity small providers use.

The Canadian dollar slipped for the third day against the U.S. currency on Wednesday amid signs that Europe's debt crisis was spreading.

U.S. consumer prices fell in October for the first time in four months as Americans paid less for new cars and gasoline, although prices outside of food and energy posted a slight increase, the Labor Department said on Wednesday.