U.S.

The S&P cut in the U.S. long-term credit rating to AA-plus is an unprecedented blow. It called the outlook "negative," signaling another downgrade is possible in the next 12 to 18 months. The U.S. dollar may weaken and Treasury yields rise when Asian markets reopen on Monday.

Rating agency standard & Poor's has staunchly defended the decision to downgrade the creditworthiness of the U.S. government and warned that further action was possible. "The debacle over the debt ceiling continued until almost the midnight hour," S&P's Sovereign Ratings Committee Chairman John Chambers said.

S&P?s stunning and controversial downgrade Friday in part reflected the firm?s assumptions about the U.S. political system?s ability to solve its problems. Others hold a more optimistic view, as Winston Churchill did. Churchill said, ?In the end, you can count on America to do the right thing - after she?s exhausted all other possibilities.?

AntiSec-tied hackers have leaked over 10GB of sensitive data, which they called "largest cache yet," from 70 law enforcement agencies in the U.S. last night.

The U.S. stock market was obliterated last week. The S&P 500 Index dropped 92.9 points, or 7.2 percent, which was its worst performance since November 2008.

Twenty-two Navy SEAL members were among 31 U.S. troops Killed on Saturday when Taliban insurgents shot down a Chinook helicopter over eastern Afghanistan. The nearly two dozen U.S. special forces who were killed were on a mission to rescue another team of military personnel pinned down by insurgents, a U.S. military official told CNN.

Saturday became the deadliest day for American forces in the war in Afghanistan after insurgent shot down a Chinook transport helicopter, killing 30 Americans. Some of the Navy Seal commandos from Seal Team 6, the unit that took down Osama bin Laden, were among those killed.

The United States lost its top-tier AAA credit rating from Standard & Poor's, drawing a blast of criticism on Saturday from its biggest creditor China and deepening investors' alarm over the euro zone's debt crisis.

The SEAL Team Six is the special operations unit responsible for the Pakistan raid that resulted in the death of Osama Bin Laden. Saturday's death is being considered the deadliest day for American forces serving the decade-long war.

In the event Monday witnesses a massive sell-off of Treasuries, bond yields would surge.

?We have total confidence in the solidity of the American economy,? Baroin told French radio.

China was quick to jump on Standard and Poor's (S&P) historic downgrade of U.S. debt.

Part of the problem is that the downgrade (while perhaps not a total surprise) arrived somewhat unexpectedly ? and during a period when markets are already extremely volatile and fragile.

The group Anonymous says it has hacked as many as 70 law U.S. law enforcement websites.

Consider the case of Canada, which lost its top-notch rating in April 1993 ? it took the country nine long, hard years to regain the coveted rating after enacting serious debt and deficit reductions.

Standard & Poor's has downgraded the U.S. debt rating, in a stunning move. More telling is why the agency downgraded the U.S. for the first time ever. S&P cited America's "less stable" political system as a reason for the downgrade.

China, the largest creditor of the world's sole superpower, hit out at the United States for its "debt addiction" and "short sighted" political wrangling in response to Standard & Poor's historic decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating from AAA.

The U.S. treasury department attacked S&P?s decision to downgrade the country?s AAA rating, saying that there is a $2 trillion error in the credit agency's analysis.

U.S. Treasuries are officially no longer risk-free.

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

U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday, with the S&P 500 Index closing below 1,200, as better than expected U.S. July jobs data and a deal Italy struck with the European Central Bank (ECB) were not enough to cheer investors.