PORTUGAL

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero will push elections up by four months.

Indiana state lawmakers, who are analyzing the implications of amending its drug laws to decriminalize marijuana, were told by a panel of experts that the prohibition of marijuana in U.S. is a failed model and Indiana stands a chance to benefit from decriminalizing marijuana.

Madeleine McCann, the British girl who has been missing for four years, was reportedly spotted in the northern Indian town of Leh. However, details of the spotting are unclear and the McCann family is not optimistic.

Only a very small portion of these people are receiving anti-viral drugs to treat their condition.

Public health officials say roughly 130 million injection drug users worldwide suffer from hepatitis C, according to a study published online by World Health Organization said on Tuesday in The Lancet, which coincides with 'World Hepatitis Day.'

The Greek sovereign debt crisis has been resolved, and NFL owners and players have inked a new contract. Is a debt deal between Democrats and Republicans up ahead? As the saying goes -- "things occur in threes."

IMF chief Christine Lagarde on Tuesday urged the United States to quickly resolve a political stalemate over raising the debt ceiling, warning that failure to reach an agreement would have serious consequences for the world economy.

Moody's cut Greece's credit rating further into junk territory on Monday and said it was almost certain to slap a default tag on its debt as a result of a new EU rescue package.

American consumers, faced with grim job prospects and the looming threat of a national debt default, are in no position to support the global economy with a new wave of spending.

Some countries have banned certain names which are odd, blasphemous, numbers or symbols

The credit ratings agencies are again angering governments, but this time they are taking on the big fish of the world economy. From Washington to Brussels, Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch have added to the intense pressure on governments trying to deal with crushing sovereign debt.

If the Fed wades further into muddy stimulus waters, that will set the stage for a certain gold boom in the short to medium term. Historically, a dollar sell-off has been the biggest force behind a gold boom. If the Fed takes recourse to another round of easing in pursuit of its goal of propping up job creation and real growth, it will inadvertently cause a dollar sell-off and trigger, in turn, a gold super rally.

Technology giant Apple unveiled Mac OS X Lion, which the company claims is the world's most advanced desktop operating system, at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) last month.

The setting is perfect for another gold boom cycle to kick in, perhaps pushing the yellow metal into a super cycle. There are several factors aiding gold's further push into higher price records, greater investment worth and long-term reign as a de facto currency. There are all sorts of classic factors supporting gold all the way, like the demand from China and India bursting at seams, continued worries for the US dollar and the worrisome prospect of sovereign default in some European countri...

Fears are spiraling that Italy may need a bailout as the yield on the country’s government bonds have surged to 5.4 percent.

In 2009, Facundo Cabral was set to tour Guatemala, the place where he was shot and killed Saturday morning.

Greece, tiny Mediterranean nation plagued by debt problems, still bears watching by U.S. investors/readers. The reason? Bond vigilantes who have driven up Greece's interest rates could do the same in the United States, if Washington doesn't eliminate its budget deficit.

Senior European officials are upset with Moody's rating downgrade of Portugal bonds to junk status.

On July 1, Jiang was absent at an important event in Beijing commemorating the 90th anniversary of China's Communist Party.A few days later, an important figure was urgently hospitalized into 301 Military Hospital located in Beijing, China. The figure is reportedly the former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, who was rumored to be in sickness since his last public appearance in Jiangsu on May 14th.

The European Commission has criticized international credit ratings agencies in the wake of the decision by Moody’s Investors Service to downgrade Portugal’s debt to “junk” status.

Italian parliament will vote on budget cuts designed to save more than 40 billion euros.