UNITED STATES

The Federal Reserve must be prepared to raise interest rates if necessary before the jobless rate has fallen to acceptable levels, or risk losing its inflation-fighting credibility, a senior Fed official said on Tuesday.

General Motors Co posted a 2.2 percent drop in U.S. sales in November from a year earlier, weighed down by brands it plans to divest or close, and said it would raise production in North America by about 75 percent in the first quarter.

When U.S. retail chains report November sales this week, investors will learn whether they have gone far enough to protect profits against a weak start to the holiday shopping season.

Data released on Monday suggested that the US is weaning out of its worst recession since the Great Depression, though the speed of that growth remains suppressed.

Newer American cars will likely be able to handle higher ethanol blends in their gasoline but the decision to approve an industry request to change the fuel mix will have to await final testing next year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday.

U.S.-based liquidity provider Knight Capital Group has opened an emissions trading desk, with Daniel G. Braun appointed head of carbon trading, the company said on Tuesday.

For anyone trying to understand why the United States is having such a hard time joining an international effort to combat global warming, a short drive west from Washington to one of the smaller states in the country might explain a lot.

Northrop Grumman Corp unveiled Tuesday an industry-academic research group to tackle growing cyber threats to U.S. computer networks and to networked infrastructure.

The tour -which starts January 2, 2010 in Dallas - will feature the songs from Nick Jonas & The Administration's Who I Am album due out on February 2. Their first single is schedule for release tomorrow.

The benchmark contract for European Union carbon emissions futures rose two percent on Tuesday after a fairly steady morning's trade as oil prices firmed, traders said.

Nick Jonas, the younger member of pop teen trio Jonas Brothers announced he will kick off a solo tour in 14 cities in the U.S. early next year.

A teenage suicide bomber killed an anti-Taliban provincial lawmaker in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday after walking into the official's house along with guests and blowing himself up.

Barclays completed the sale of its asset management arm to U.S. fund manager BlackRock on Tuesday for $15.2 billion, or $1.7 billion more than when it struck the deal in June after a jump in BlackRock's share price.

Stocks gained on Tuesday as a weak dollar lifted commodity prices and home sales data reassured investors about the state of the housing market, considered one of the biggest drags on a recovery.

A group of U.S. senators urged President Barack Obama Monday to back legislation requiring the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement and a long list of other trade pacts they blame for millions of lost U.S. manufacturing jobs.

President Barack Obama's top economic adviser said on Monday that tackling high U.S. unemployment was vital but the problem would take time to fix.

The couple who drew international attention by getting into a White House dinner without an invitation denied on Tuesday that they gate-crashed the high-security gala.

The world has emitted extra greenhouse gases this century equivalent to the annual totals of China and the United States above a maximum for avoiding the worst of climate change, a study estimated Tuesday.

Israeli inspectors trying to enforce a government moratorium on new building starts in Jewish settlements ran into defiance Tuesday at an enclave in the occupied West Bank.

U.S. construction spending was flat overall in October at $910.8 billion despite the biggest surge in homebuilding in more than a decade, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday in a report that sharply revised the prior month's data.

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as data reassured investors about the state of the housing market, considered one of the biggest drags on a recovery, while a weak dollar boosted commodity prices.