UNITED STATES

The United States lost its top-notch AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's on Friday in an unprecedented reversal of fortune for the world's largest economy.

Big, brash and confident as ever, Simon Cowell said on Friday that his upcoming "The X Factor" would thrash the competition on U.S. television and topple "American Idol" as the nation's most-watched show.

Jennifer Lopez's future as a judge with "American Idol" is still up in the air, after Fox television on Friday declined to confirm or deny reports that she had signed on for a second season.

Bolstered by strong reviews, "The Rise of the Planet of the Apes" notched a solid $1.25 million in midnight showings on Friday, according to studio estimates.

The winner of Fox's new "X Factor" is going to get some major exposure, and not just on the show. The singer will also star in a Pepsi commercial scheduled to air on NBC during Super Bowl XLVI.

Stocks closed out their worst week in more than two years on Friday in a volatile session that saw the major indexes whip back and forth before the S&P 500 ended down less than a point.

U.S. sales of Blu-ray movie and television discs rose this year as overall spending on home entertainment dropped and viewing habits shifted, new figures from an industry group showed.

Sanford Wallace, known as the Spam King, has turned himself in to U.S. authorities after he was indicted for masterminding a scheme that sent more than 27 million unsolicited junk messages through Facebook's servers.

South American nations said on Friday they are well-positioned to withstand a sharper global downturn but want to insulate their economies further from a crisis of confidence they blame on Europe and the United States.

Two energy blasts from the sun are causing "tsunamis in space."

U.S. consumer credit shot up in June by $15.53 billion, according to a Federal Reserve report on Friday that showed consumers were willing to keep borrowing robustly in a tight job market.

The new coach makes his debut with the U.S. team.

The U.S. government expects its debt to be downgraded by credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's from its current triple-A rating and is preparing for the event, ABC News said on Friday.

Stocks closed out their worst week in more than two years on Friday in a volatile session that saw the major indexes whip back and forth before the S&P 500 ended down less than a point.

Obese men with diabetes 2 can enhance erectile function and decrease urinary tract symptoms along with increased sexual desire by losing weight, a new study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine shows.

U.S. stocks ended a horrendous week with a volatile session that left many questions unanswered.

The U.S. government expects its debt to be downgraded by credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's from its current triple-A rating and is preparing for the event, ABC News said on Friday.

U.S. sales of Blu-ray movie and television discs rose this year as overall spending on home entertainment dropped and viewing habits shifted, new figures from an industry group showed.

Archeologists at Texas State University have found the wreckage of Captain Henry Morgan's long lost ship off the coast of Panama.

Facebook says it has uncovered smoking gun evidence that a contract at the heart of a lawsuit against the company and its founder Mark Zuckerberg is fraudulent, according to a Facebook court filing.

President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party have nine months, or until about June 2012, to demonstrate to the American people that their policies can create 150,000 to 200,000 new jobs per month -- the amount needed to substantially lower employment and create ample opportunities for all.