keep for now

Moody's Investors Service on Monday revised the outlook on Minnesota's general obligation Aa1 rating to negative from stable, citing the state's widening structural deficit and political strife.

The House of Representatives on Monday approved an 11th-hour deal to raise the borrowing limit, clearing the biggest hurdle to averting a potentially catastrophic debt default.

Merrill Lynch, the second largest U.S. brokerage by assets and financial advisers, on Monday said it hired seven new advisers overseeing more than $800 million in combined client assets.

HighTower Advisors, a firm that is expanding by poaching financial advisers from the big brokerages, said on Monday it hired a private banking team from Merrill Lynch managing more than $1 billion of client assets.

Children whose mothers had high exposure to electromagnetic fields while pregnant may have an increased risk of developing asthma, U.S. researchers said on Monday in a study that adds to an ongoing debate.

U.S. cattle futures set a two-week high on Monday lifted by a sharp drop in this week's cattle supplies and on news of active beef exports last week, traders said.

Midwest cash gasoline differentials rose on Monday following cycle changes in both Chicago and Group Three markets.

The former estate of legendary actress Katharine Hepburn who died in 2003, is up for sale with a $28 million asking price.

Interest rates on most Treasury bills fell on Monday after a tentative deal among top Washington lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling soothed anxiety of a sovereign debt default.

Space Exploration Technologies, a privately owned firm developing a space taxi with U.S.-government backing, plans to launch its second test capsule on November 30 and send it all the way to the International Space Station, a company manager said on Thursday.

Alaska scientists have discovered the fossil of a rare, prehistoric marine reptile that is likely the most complete remnant of the creature ever found in North America.

Central Falls, Rhode Island, one of a handful of U.S. cities and counties facing fiscal collapse in the wake of the economic recession, filed for a rare Chapter 9 bankruptcy on Monday.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States Monday of living beyond its means "like a parasite" on the global economy and said dollar dominance was a threat to the financial markets.

U.S. health insurance companies must offer women free birth control and other preventive health care services under Obama administration rules released on Monday, a historic decision supported by family planning groups and opposed by conservative groups.

A teen-ager believed to be a leading member of the Anonymous and LulzSec online activist groups appeared in a London court Monday charged with hacking offences.

Casey Anthony will be required to serve a year of probation for check fraud charges in light of a clarification made on Monday by the judge presiding over that case.

The White House and congressional leaders scrambled for enough support from skeptical lawmakers on Monday to push through an 11th-hour deal to raise the U.S. borrowing limit and avert a devastating debt default.

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg urged Parliament Monday to preserve the democratic values of Norway as public pressure grew for stiffer sentences for serious crimes after an anti-immigration zealot's bloody rampage.

Isolated North Korea said on Monday it had agreed to further dialogue with the United States, and repeated it was willing to resume regional nuclear disarmament talks at an early date, without preconditions.

China's media are curbing combative reporting of a high-speed train disaster after what observers said were orders from the ruling Communist Party's propaganda arm, which on Monday drew fresh scorn from Internet users demanding unfettered news.

China said on Monday that Islamic militants had mounted an attack that left 11 people dead in the restive western region of Xinjiang, which announced a crackdown on "illegal" religious activities at the start of the Muslim fasting month.

The dollar rallied against the yen and the Swiss franc on Monday as investors unwound safe-haven plays on expectations U.S. lawmakers would pass a deal to raise the country's borrowing limit, averting the risk of an immediate default.

Brent crude futures hit a 6-week high on Monday, topping $120 a barrel, due to a relief rally after Washington reached a last-minute deal to escape default.

Gold fell more than 1 percent on Monday after President Barack Obama said lawmakers had reached a deal to cut the country's deficit, which, if approved, would remove the threat of a default on debt that has driven bullion to a record high.

The tentative deal to avoid a crushing debt default is at best a mild relief for the U.S. economy that nearly stalled in the first half of the year and has yet to show signs of any realistic pickup.

The White House has one important tool in its arsenal to influence congressional talks over further deficit reduction measures in the coming months: the expiry of Bush-era tax cuts at the end of 2012.

A rescue crew on Saturday located the bodies of two men in the burned wreckage of a small aircraft that went missing while flying near the Grand Canyon the night before, authorities said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Saturday offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the location of a missing 11-year-old New Hampshire girl last seen nearly a week ago, and the arrest of anyone responsible for her disappearance.

A drunk father allegedly allowed his 8 year-old son to drive his pick-up truck on a southeast Louisiana highway on Saturday while he slept, until patrol officers pulled over the boy, police said.