United States
United StatesAll 50 US states suffered freezing temperatures, affecting 190 million people
Weather records have tumbled across North America, as all 50 US states saw freezing temperatures. The most extreme arctic blasts, blamed on a weather pattern known as the polar vortex, were said to have affected nearly 190 million people.
JP Morgan will pay 1.7bn dollars penalty related to Bernard Madoff's fraud
JPMorgan Chase & Co will pay a 1.7 billion dollars penalty to settle charges by US federal authorities that the bank failed to report suspicious activity relating to Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme.
Yellen confirmed as next Federal Reserve chairperson: Senate votes 56-26
Janet Yellen, a key force behind the Federal Reserve's unprecedented and controversial efforts to boost the US economy, was confirmed on Monday by the Senate to lead the central bank just as it begins to unwind that stimulus.
Midwestern US warned of 'life-threatening' temperatures of up to minus 51 Celsius
Residents of the Midwestern United States braced for the coldest weather in two decades, temperatures that forecasters warned would be life-threatening. An estimated one third of the US population has been affected by the extreme weather conditions that also reached neighboring Canada.
Colorado, USA, celebrates the end of marihuana prohibition and opens new chapter
The world's first state-licensed marijuana retailers legally permitted to sell pot for recreational use have opened for business in Colorado with long lines of customers, marking a new chapter in America's drug culture.
One for the White House: NSA program keeping phone call records is 'lawful'
A federal judge ruled that a National Security Agency program that collects records of millions of Americans' phone calls is lawful, calling it a “counter-punch” to terrorism that does not violate Americans' privacy rights.
US economy picking up strength according to third quarter data
The United States economy grew at a surprisingly robust 4.1% annual pace in the third quarter according to the Commerce Department, which was the strongest advance in nearly two years and only the third time the economy had expanded that quickly from one quarter to the next since 2006.
Brazil and Germany, with UN support hit back at US cyber spying
UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution aimed at protecting the right to privacy of internet users. The resolution was introduced by Brazil and Germany after allegations that the US had been eavesdropping on foreign leaders, including Brazil's Dilma Rousseff and Germany's Angela Merkel.
Brazil expects to begin exporting matured beef to the US in first half of 2014
Brasilia and Washington have taken the latest technical steps to open the US market to Brazilian beef, which if all runs smoothly together with a 60 to 90 days public consultation period could see the first shipments in the second quarter of next year. Currently because of sanitary barriers linked to Foot and Mouth Disease, FMD, Brazil can only export industrialized beef to the US.
US planning a new trade agreement with Latam, but through NAFTA
The President Barack Obama administration is “exploring” a regional trade plan for the Americas that would be the most ambitious hemispheric initiative in years, but contrary to the failed experience of George Bush's FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas), this time it would be instrumented through Nafta (North American Free Trade Agreement) partners Mexico and Canada, according to a Miami Herald interview of Andres Oppenheimer with Secretary of State John Kerry.
