UNITED STATES

Tropical Storm Ophelia strengthened overnight as it tracked on a path well north of the Leeward Islands.

A judge received a seven-page letter from Jamaican drug lord Christopher 'Dudus' Coke asking for leniency after pleading guilty to racketeering and assault charges in August.

The U.S. Federal Reserve intervened in the U.S. economy Thursday – the central bank did what investors thought they would do, but the Dow Jones Industrial Average still fell more than 270 points. What’s going on?

AT&T Inc Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson said that his 2012 outlook for the U.S. economy looks similar to 2011 as he does not see a big recovery any time soon.

U.S. health officials are looking to capitalize on significant gains in flu vaccination rates with a new campaign emphasizing the need for all Americans over six months of age to get a flu shot.

R.E.M. bid adieu to its fans after three decades of delivering extraordinary music.

China's manufacturing sector contracted for a third consecutive month in September while a measure of inflation picked up, suggesting the world's No.2 economy may not be able to provide much of a counterweight to flagging U.S. and European growth.

U.S. stocks have opened sharply lower in Thursday morning trading following an overnight plunge in global markets. Equities have tumbled largely in response to the Federal Reserve’s grim warning about the state of the U.S. economy and the establishment bond swap program.

Decades after he slept under a pinball machine wedged into his cramped apartment, David Silverman will open the America's largest museum dedicated to speeding silver balls and fast-motion flippers.

Wall Street was set for a sharply lower open and its third straight down day on Thursday as a grim outlook from the Federal Reserve and downbeat data in Europe and China heightened fears about a global recession.

Shares of United Technologies Corp fell 4.5 percent in premarket trading on Thursday after the diversified U.S. manufacturer said it would pay $16.5 billion in cash for aircraft components maker Goodrich Corp .

In April, Amazon announced that it will support borrowing e-books from local libraries. Now it has come true - Kindle books are available at 11,000 libraries in the U.S.

Investor George Soros, at 81, has for the first time made the list of the 10 wealthiest Americans, Forbes Magazine reported on Wednesday in the 2011 edition of its annual rich list.

Softbank Corp's (9984.T) lucrative gig as the sole iPhone vendor in Japan faces trouble as rival KDDI (9433.T) hammers out a deal with Apple, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday, while worries of lost sales sent Softbank shares sliding 12 percent.

Logitech, the world's largest computer mouse maker, issued its second profit warning in eight weeks, slashing its forecast for full-year profit and sales after a review by its acting chief executive, sending its shares down 12 percent.

China's manufacturing sector contracted for a third consecutive month in September while a measure of inflation picked up, suggesting the world's No.2 economy may not be able to provide much of a counterweight to flagging U.S. and European growth.

FedEx Corp , the world's No. 2 package delivery company, reported a higher quarterly profit that slightly beat forecasts but pared its outlook for the full year, citing fuel prices and moderate global economic growth.

Talk is cheap that the U.S. is merely in slow-growth mode more than two years after the official end to the recession, says Nouriel Roubini, the New York University professor who predicted the collapse of the U.S. housing market and predicted the 2008 recession.

Foreign equities tumbled largely in response to the Federal Reserve’s grim warning about the state of the U.S. economy.

Commodities skidded on Thursday as investors scrambled to liquidate after a U.S. Federal Reserve warning, coupled with signs of slower growth in China and Europe, stoked worries about slowing demand for fuels and metals.

Gold prices plummeted more than 3 percent Thursday after the Federal Reserve pronounced the economy seriously ill but then prescribed what many traders and analysts saw as a virtual aspirin.