UNITED STATES

A leading expert on chemical and biological arms control called Wednesday for urgent efforts to stop new mind-altering drugs developed for medical purposes from being adopted by the military for use in warfare.

Caring for obese people is eating up an ever-bigger slice of the US health care spending pie, a new government report shows.

U.S. life expectancy is the highest it has ever been at 77.9 years, according to government statistics released on Wednesday.

General Motors Co will provide cash advances to dealers to cover

Diagnostic tests that look for specific genetic or molecular characteristics may be the key to helping doctors decide which lung cancer treatments work best for patients, two studies released on Wednesday suggest.

Switzerland sold its stake in UBS for 5.5 billion Swiss francs ($5.1 billion) on Thursday, making a solid profit from last year's rescue of its largest bank.

Stocks rose on Thursday after a snap back in Chinese equities offset a surprise rise in weekly jobless claims and other data that showed a mixed picture of the economy.

U.S. crude prices edged toward $73 as rallying equities outweighed concerns about the pace of demand recovery in the world's top consumer, the United States.

BBVA's expected purchase of troubled Texas lender Guaranty Financial Group will boost its southern U.S. strategy, but analysts are keeping close tabs on the bank's capital levels.

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week, a government report showed on Thursday, fanning worries of an anemic recovery from the worst recession in 70 years.

German politicians are drawing on the lessons of the U.S. presidential campaign by embracing the Internet and experimenting with townhall meetings, but what worked for Barack Obama seems to be backfiring here.

Army-ruled Myanmar urged Western countries on Thursday to lift economic sanctions and allow the country to modernize and achieve its democratic goals.

Scotland released on Thursday a former Libyan agent jailed for life for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people, most of them Americans, because he is dying of cancer.

A police investigation into last month's Jakarta hotel bombings shows that militants also planned to use snipers to attack Barack Obama's convoy when the U.S. president visits Indonesia, an intelligence expert told Reuters.

Hurricane Bill weakened on Thursday, falling to a Category 3 storm with its winds dropping to 125 mph, but hurricane watchers said it had the potential to reach Category 4 status again.

Millions of Afghans went to the polls Thursday, defying Taliban threats of violence and sporadic attacks across the country to choose a president in the midst of a worsening war.

A former Libyan agent jailed for life for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people, most of them Americans, is to be freed on Thursday, the Scottish government said.

Oil prices eased toward $72 a barrel on Thursday, after rising more than 4 percent in the previous session, as optimism faded about the pace of demand recovery in the world's top consumer the United States.

Jobless Claims Still High; Electric Ambitions; Decision Nears for Opel

Packaged food makers H.J. Heinz Co and Hormel Foods Corp both posted better-than-expected quarterly profits as consumers bought more items like ketchup and Spam as they increasingly ate at home to save money.

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week, a government report showed on Thursday, fanning worries of an anemic recovery from the worst recession in 70 years.