COMMODITIES

If the U.S. elections were held not Nov. 6 but today, it appears there would be no change in control at either the White House or the Congress.

An independent study found California's debt is likely billions of dollars more than previously reported.

Honey Boo Boo and her family are seeking $10,000 an episode, more than twice their current salary.

The Chicago teachers' strike is over, but the one in Kenya continues as unions fight for a massive salary increase.

Apple's iPhone 5 phone may sell as many as 10 million units by Monday as customers flooded Apple Stores and mobile carriers.

Brazil is trying address its staggering rate of traffic fatalities, with more than 40,000 people killed on the roads every year.

Cheng Uei Precision Industry, Molex And Amphenol will supply the new iPhone 5 connector and likely reap profit.

Chechnya was once synonymous with destruction. Now, under President Ramzan Kadyrov, its capital looks as good as new. What's the story?

11 federal judges will hear arguments about where dozens of lawsuits against Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) should be tried.

Shortly after Apple's launch of iOS 6 on Wednesday, developers are already flocking to the new operating system's organized mobile payments storage application, Passbook. With major online ticket retailers and services like StubHub, Ticketmaster, and Fandango all jumping on the Passbook bandwagon, Apple may have gained an early lead in the mobile payment marketplace even as new enterprising operations like Square and eBay try their hands at integrating credit card transactions with smartphones and mobile devices.

First-quarter earnings from Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) could be an early sign for performance by IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Microsoft (Nasadq: MSFT).

While Chicago students are returning to school, the broader dispute over teacher evaluations -- in particular, what role student test scores should play -- is here to stay.

Could Microsoft's new deal With RIM be a prelude to an acquisition?

U.S. and Chinese officials have been quick to dismiss bilateral problems and are highlighting the need for greater cooperation. An assault on the U.S. Ambassador's car in Shanghai has been quickly sidelined.

The high abortion rate of female fetuses has led to a dramatic gender imbalance in India -- over the 50-year period from 1961 to 2011, the number of girls born per 1,000 boys plunged from 976 to 914, according to the census.

Kurdish rebels of the PKK in Turkey have seen an increase in bloody clashes with the Turkish military, according to Prime Minister Erdogan. It's another indication that regional upheavals are raising the stakes in what was already a complicated bid for the sovereignty of Kurdistan.

Tangible results to alleviating China's rising temper against Japan seem nowhere to be found. U.S. officials are urging for calm and peace, but the reality on the streets is that Chinese anger and frustrations are dealing increasing damage and violence to businesses carrying Japanese branded products. Meanwhile, a massive Chinese fishing fleet is soon expected to arrive in the waters off the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, worsening the prospects of a swift resolution.

London copper slipped on Monday, but still retained most of the previous session's steep climb to a 4-1/2 month top as a new round of U.S. monetary stimulus measures and a weak dollar continued to support prices.

Benjamin Netanyahu football talk on two Sunday talk shows was meant to draw a stark focus on Israel's threats to prevent a nuclear Iran at a time when the world has been fixed upon global anti-American Muslim protests. His main hope is the U.S. doesn't drop the ball.

Venezuela and Colombia are both rich in natural beauty, but have taken two very different approaches to tourism. One has seen tourist numbers stagnate while the other is an international success story. What happened, and why are two neighbors so radically different?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI: DJI) gained another 53.51 points, or 0.40 percent, on Friday to close at 13,593.37, the highest level in nearly five years. However, many uncertainties remain. Here are four factors that could make -- or break -- the Dow's continued ascent.

Want to play the iPhone 5 craze created by Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) and not pay the price for Apple's near-$700 shares. Think of some of its suppliers like Arm Holings (Nasdaq: ARMH) and Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM), or even Corning (NYSE: GLW) whose products are designed into the product.

Anger in the Muslim and Arab world over an anti-Islam film produced in America has spread to Yemen, where several hundred protesters stormed the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Sana. Yemen is already dealing with widespread social problems due to food and water shortages, rising extremism and sectarian conflict and political instability following the popular uprising that began in 2011.

When the first customers for the iPhone 5 from Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), the world's most valuable technology company, get their new products next Friday, chances are they’ll rave over the latest model, the upgrade for the nearly year-old iPhone 4S. But some anticipated items are absent, like an upgrade to Siri, NFC and biometric security.

Less than 24 hours after the U.S. government reported it was mostly done with its money-losing bailout of AIG, a Bloomberg News article out Tuesday explained how Wall Street banks are setting themselves up for the next systemic crisis by playing at financial alchemy in the derivatives market.

The island, officially French but in fact very much its own place, is among the most beautiful in the Mediterranean, but it still suffers from endemic violence by nationalists and mobsters. What's wrong with Corsica, then?

The Middle East is looking increasingly unsteady with the attacks in Libya and the protests in Egypt, which may further deter the U.S. from eventually intervening in Syria.

Far-right Dutch politician and leader of the ultra-conservative Freedom Party (PVV) Geert Wilders formerly established his party in parliament on a platform of Islamophobic anti-immigration, and now seeks to turn nationalist sentiment against the eurozone amid frustrations with debt-laden countries like Greece, Italy and Spain. Poll indicate his party will lose seats this election, but it has defied expectations in the past.