IBT Staff Reporter

Ratings agency Moody's repeated a warning on Monday it could downgrade the United States before 2013 if the fiscal or economic outlook weakens significantly, but said it saw the potential for a new debt agreement in Washington to cut the budget deficit before then.

On a recent trip to Japan's devastated northeast coast, venture capitalist Yoshihito Hori chanced upon a group of fishermen outside an evacuation center collecting wood from the debris where homes once stood. They were pulling out the nails and cutting it up to sell as firewood for 500 yen ($6.37) a bundle.

Japan on Monday signaled it was ready to continue intervening in the currency market in the wake of a G7 agreement to counter excessive exchange-rate moves, but Moody's Investors Service warned that Tokyo's efforts to weaken the yen were ineffective and negative for its sovereign ratings.

BlackRock, the world's largest money manager, is looking for opportunities to buy U.S. mortgage agency debt in the wake of Standard & Poor's downgrade of the U.S. sovereign rating, said Rick Rieder, the firm's chief investment officer of fixed income, fundamental portfolios.

Mariah Carey is all set to star in the reality show X Factor.

Fear gripped Asian markets on Monday as the fallout from the historic downgrade of the U.S. debt rating drowned out pledges of assistance from Europe's central bank and soothing words from the Group of Seven.

Shares tumbled on Monday despite efforts by global policymakers to stem a collapse in investor confidence after S&P downgraded the U.S. credit rating, but the euro firmed on hopes the ECB will act to stop Europe's debt crisis from engulfing Italy and Spain.

Manchester United capped a remarkable comeback with an injury time winner at Wembley, giving themselves a 3-2 victory in a thriller against Manchester City in the FA Community Shield.

Baidu Inc, China's largest search engine, said on Monday it has signed an agreement with BMW to provide its search services in some of the German automaker's vehicles.

Secret tapes recorded by Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis reveal that she believed that vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson and Texas businessmen killed her husband President John F Kennedy.

The United States and Europe must summon the political courage to defuse their debt woes or global economic recovery will be threatened, Chinese official media said on Monday, reflecting the pressures on Beijing with its big stash of dollar assets.

The European Central Bank waved its big fire hose at blazing bond markets, then turned on a puny sprinkler.

U.S. insurance giant American International Group is planning to sue Bank of America to recover more than $10 billion in losses on $28 billion of investment in mortgage-backed securities, the New York Times said citing three people with knowledge of the complaint.

A new global financial crisis would hit Asia harder than the last one, especially nations heavily exposed to offshore markets or still repairing budgets from the 2008-2009 crisis, credit ratings agency Standard and Poor's said on Monday.

The U.S. securities regulator has sent subpoenas to high-frequency trading firms in relation to last year's flash crash probe, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Former Governor of New York, Hugh Carey who successfully tackled New York's financial crisis in the 1970's died on Sunday. He was 92.

U.S. assets fell sharply in early electronic trading on Sunday in response to a downgrade of the U.S. credit rating by Standard & Poor's, while the euro rose on expectations of further bond purchases by the European Central Bank to deal with the euro zone's debt crisis.

A downgrade of United States' top-tier credit rating has Wall Street scrambling to figure out the knock-on effects for the financial system, from mortgages to banks to markets that rely on U.S. Treasuries for collateral.

A weekend contest at the world's largest hacking convention in Las Vegas showed one reason why big corporations seem to be such easy prey for cyber criminals: their workers are poorly trained in security.

NATO tried to determine on Sunday if Taliban insurgents had shot down a troop-carrying helicopter in Afghanistan, killing 38 in the largest loss of life suffered by foreign forces in a single incident in 10 years of war.

Hollywood studios are set to break into China's massive Internet market as domestic video sites scramble to screen U.S. movies and dramas on their digital platforms, a move which could also curb rampant piracy.

Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Monday that market trust in the dollar and U.S. Treasuries has not wavered in the wake of a U.S. credit downgrade, indicating Tokyo's readiness to maintain its massive holdings of U.S. government bonds.

A pledge of coordinated action by the world's industrial powers wedded to hopes of aggressive bond buying from Europe's central bank helped limit the fallout from the historic downgrade of the United States' debt rating in Asia on Monday.

Obese men with diabetes 2 can enhance erectile function and decrease urinary tract symptoms along with increased sexual desire by losing weight, a new study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine shows.

The Group of Seven nations is committed to taking coordinated action to ensure liquidity and to support financial market functioning, financial stability and economic growth, G7 finance ministers and central bank governors said in a statement.

The United States and Europe must summon the political courage to overcome their debt crises or global economic recovery will be threatened, Chinese official media said on Monday, warning Washington against letting the dollar weaken.

An Ohio man fatally shot seven people and wounded two others before he was shot down by the police

A weekend contest at the world's largest hacking convention in Las Vegas showed one reason why big corporations seem to be such easy prey for cyber criminals: their workers are poorly trained in security.

Finance chiefs from the world's industrial powers pledged on Sunday to take whatever actions were needed to steady financial markets, spooked by the political wrangling in Europe and the United States over slashing their huge budget deficits.