WORLD

Federal Reserve Gov. Sarah Bloom Raskin said on Saturday the Fed must impose monetary penalties on banks that entered into an April agreement with regulators over how to fix problems in their mortgage-servicing businesses.

The Queen is currently Jamaica’s head of state – she is represented by governor general, Sir Patrick Allen

When U.S. Army Cpl. Jesse Thorsen delivered a speech at Ron Paul's caucus night rally in Iowa on Tuesday, he never expected to become a pseudo-symbol. By the time he finished speaking, the 28-year-old would come to embody a breed of supporter seemingly unique to the Ron Paul universe: The War-Weary Veteran.

Witnesses and police said that the balloon hit electric power lines, exploded into flames and then plunged earthward, killing all aboard.

I have never heard anyone describe themselves as “working class” or “blue collar” – even if it was obvious that these terms applied to them perfectly.

The knives will come out at back-to-back debates this weekend as Republican presidential hopefuls frantically jockey for position days before New Hampshire's key primary.

Joerg Asmussen, a European Central Bank executive board member, wants ECB policy makers to show unity when dealing with the public, according to a newspaper report released on Saturday.

The Asian political canvas looks challenging in 2012, with government changes in key countries likely to surprise investors and businesses. The highlights are a once-in-a-decade leadership change in China, chances of an early general election in India, worsening uncertainty in Pakistani politics and general elections in South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia.

An interesting bit from Mitt Romney's campaign tour through South Carolina on Friday morning has made it to the top of Internet videos that went viral this weekend.

Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has found himself in hot water over a statement regarding the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and food stamps for the African American community, stirring up heated debates in the blogosphere which accused him of singling out Blacks.

Rick Perry's team essentially calculated that Rick Santorum, who emerged in Iowa as the leading conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, isn't a strong enough candidate to hold that position in future contests.

Congressional Republicans Friday asked the Justice Department to weigh in on the controversial recess appointments President Barack Obama made to install appointees to politically sensitive jobs overseeing consumer lending and the labor force.

The Obama administration on Friday opted against closing a loan of as much as $730 million for steelmaker Severstal North America, whose financing bid to expand a plant for auto-steel production drew the attention of congressional investigators looking at U.S. Energy Department loan programs.

The government announced Friday it will reduce the time that U.S. citizens are separated from spouses and children who have been in the country illegally and are forced to leave for as long as 10 years while their visa requests are processed.

Jon Huntsman and members of his family expressed outrage Friday at an advertisement targeted at his adopted daughters by a group supporting rival Ron Paul.

A U.S. congressional committee will hold a hearing on Feb. 2 to examine the role credit rating agencies played in the collapse of MF Global Holdings Ltd, a congressional staffer said on Friday.

Defendant companies that are convicted in criminal cases or plea to charges will no longer be able to make deals with the Securities and Exchange Commission without admitting or denying allegations.

Fidel Castro said Thursday the world was on an inexorable march toward the abyss, which he blamed in part on the discovery and exploitation of vast reserves of so-called shale gas around the world.

Western powers this week readied a contingency plan to tap a record volume from emergency stockpiles to replace nearly all the Gulf oil that would be lost if Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, industry sources and diplomats told Reuters.

Lisa Irwin has been missing for three months since her mysterious disappearance on Oct. 4. The 1-year-old's parents, Deborah Bradley and Jeremy Irwin, continue to maintain that baby Lisa disappeared from their home nearly a month ago. Her family's Kansas City attorney, John Picerno, said in a statement Tuesday that authorities have new information regarding missing baby Lisa Irwin.

House Democrats called Republicans' bluff this morning by attempting to hijack a pro forma session into doing actual work. The stunt was meant to lampoon Republicans' claims that Congress is not in recess, as the pro forma sessions represent the usual order of business.

A new poll shows Mitt Romney leading in South Carolina just two weeks before it holds the third vote of the 2012 Republican primary season.

If Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination, he'll not only be the first Mormon to do so: he'll also be the first presidential candidate whose father was born in Mexico. Much of his family still lives across the border in Colonia Dublan, where Romney's grandfather fled to avoid being prosecuted for polygamy. Romney's relatives down south hope that as the election continues, he will embrace both his Mormonism and his Mexican background more openly.

Diane Abbott, the first black woman to serve as a member of British parliament, tweeted on Jan. 3 that London cabbies sometimes don't pick up black people, a statement that has enraged the city's taxi drivers.

Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson said Friday morning he misspoke when calling Rick Santorum weird for the way the GOP candidate handled the 1996 death of his infant son.

Iranian naval forces have reportedly completed a 10-day series of exercises near the Strait.

It been eight years since columnist and gay rights activist Dan Savage redefined his name to be a neologism for anal sex, but Santorum's Google problem continues to plague his campaign... in part because both Santorum and supporters like the pro-life, anti-gay group AFTAH keep calling voters' attention to it.

Group says that it will petition the U.S. Supreme Court to take its challenge to Montana's century-old ban on corporate political spending.

Dutchman Joran van der Sloot on Friday said he would sincerely confess to killing a Peruvian woman in 2010, a plea strategy aimed at reducing his eventual prison sentence. As a result, a Peruvian judge postponed his murder trial to Wednesday.