keep for now

A leading Republican lawmaker would not rule out tax increases on Thursday if they fostered economic growth, adding that "everything is on the table" for a U.S. congressional panel charged with forging a deal to cut the deficit.

Oil is likely to remain weak in the short term due to the sluggish global economy, while gold reaches new peaks on its increasing safe haven appeal and an expected further easing of U.S. monetary policy, a London-based fund manager said.

In days past, jawboning from Presidents and central banks was often enough to stem a financial markets selloff. Not anymore.

Rafa Nadal fluffed his lines on the return from five-week break when the Spanish world number two was stunned 1-6 7-6 7-6 by unheralded Croatian Ivan Dodig in his opening match of the Montreal Masters on Wednesday.

Every athlete competing in this year's World Athletics Championships will be blood-tested in an unprecedented anti-doping program, the sports governing body said Thursday.

Novak Djokovic's reign as world number one got off to a wild start as he scrambled to a 7-5 6-1 win over Russian Nikolai Davydenko at the Montreal Masters on Wednesday, improving his season record to a dazzling 49-1.

The Cleveland Indians pounded out hit after hit against Detroit on their way to a 10-3 win on Wednesday that closed the gap on the division-leading Tigers.

World soccer's governing body FIFA said it has opened ethics proceedings against 16 Caribbean soccer federation officials, following an initial probe into cash-for-votes allegations during this year's presidential election.

The public have not laid eyes on the heavenly depiction of "The Seraph's Watch" for over a century and many people thought the painting was lost.

Singer Gavin DeGraw will return to performing on August 24, after an assault in New York that left him with concussion and a broken nose, his spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Warren Buffett has been buying amid this week's sharp declines in the market, and has not yet seen anything that suggests another downturn is emerging, the legendary investor told Fortune magazine.

The London riots will not undermine confidence in the city's ability to stage a trouble-free Olympics next year, organizing committee chairman Sebastian Coe said on Thursday.

Grand Ole Opry star Billy Grammer, best known for his 1959 hit "Gotta Travel On", has died at the age of 85.

Since director James Cameron's "Avatar" raked in $2.8 billion at global box offices, Hollywood has flooded theaters with wave after wave of 3D movies, but some industry watchers wonder if theatergoers are now drowning in it.

Steve Stricker equaled the lowest round in a major to take control of the PGA Championship on Thursday while fellow American Tiger Woods spectacularly self-destructed after making a red-hot start.

Tiger Woods offered a tantalizing glimpse of his old self at the PGA Championship on Thursday before the erratic play that has dogged him through the past, winless, two years returned to wreck his opening round.

A 17-year-old Memphis boy, charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of the principal of the small private school he attended, told police he did not like her and had planned to kill her, police said on Thursday.

A roadside bomb killed five American troops in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, the U.S. military said, less than a week after American forces suffered their worst single loss of the Afghan war when Taliban insurgents shot down a helicopter.

A woman who underwent a full face transplant in May after being mauled by a chimpanzee in 2009 revealed her new face in a photo released on Thursday.

A woman in a headscarf runs into the street to calm a crowd before violence erupts. "This is what a war zone looks like," a voiceover declares.

An unmanned experimental aircraft designed to glide down from the upper atmosphere at 20 times the speed of sound lost contact with ground control on its second test flight on Thursday, a Pentagon agency said.

It took three stressful trips to the motor vehicle department before newlywed Danielle Tate finally succeeded in changing her name. Her frustration unleashed a new business that has saved thousands of brides from the same headache.

Firmer U.S. stocks pulled world shares higher on Thursday as strong U.S. jobs data took some of the focus away from renewed fears about the health of the euro zone banking system.

The Philadelphia Eagles snapped up yet another high-profile free agent Wednesday by luring wide receiver Steve Smith away from NFC East rivals the New York Giants.

PGA Championship organisers were given a scare on the eve of the tournament when the edges of two greens at Atlanta Athletic Club suffered "minor damage" after being mown by greenkeeping staff.

The 93rd U.S. PGA Championship, the year's final major, began at Atlanta Athletic Club under sunny skies Thursday as four-times winner Tiger Woods prepared for an early morning teeoff.

Moviemakers producing a film about the U.S. special forces raid that killed Osama bin Laden are getting help from the Pentagon, but the Obama administration dismissed concerns on Wednesday that classified information has been divulged.

World stocks and the euro fell back Thursday, prompting a rush to safe-haven government bonds as concerns resurfaced about the euro zone banking system and signs of funding stress.

Massachusetts has been dubbed "Taxachusetts" by critics of the state's taxes but at least for this weekend residents will get a break.