United States

• Friday, April 29th 2011 - 21:37 UTC

  US economy still slow says Fed; polls show Americans gloomy but optimistic

  

  The US economy is not fully recovered from its deep recession, with housing still weighing on growth, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday in a speech spelling out ways the US central bank has studied lower income communities.

• Friday, April 29th 2011 - 05:51 UTC

  US growth in first quarter much slower than anticipated

  

  US economic growth slowed in the first three months of 2011 to an annualised rate of 1.8%, corresponding to a 0.4% quarterly increase. This compares with a revised annual growth rate of 3.1% in the previous quarter, official figures show.

• Friday, April 29th 2011 - 05:21 UTC

  Oil soars to its highest in 31 months and US dollar plunges to three year low

  

  United States crude oil futures rose Thursday to hit a 31-month high settlement after a volatile trading session while the US dollar fell to a three-year low against major currencies following on the Federal Reserve's intention to keep interest rates near zero.

• Thursday, April 28th 2011 - 06:27 UTC

  Record Latino turnout in US 2010 mid term election, but well below potential

  

  More than 6.6 million Latinos voted in the legislative elections last November, a record Hispanic turnout in a non-presidential election year, according to a new study.

• Thursday, April 28th 2011 - 01:50 UTC

  Fed in no rush to scale down liquidity support; inflation trends ‘subdued’

  

  The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday it will maintain the current rates and is in no rush to scale back its extensive support for the US economy while estimating that the increase in commodity prices (and inflation) is transitory.

• Thursday, April 28th 2011 - 01:37 UTC

  White House releases Obama’s birth certificate to put end “to ongoing silliness”

  

  The White House released copies of President Barack Obama's original long-form birth certificate Wednesday, seeking to put an end to persistent rumors that he was not born in the United States.

• Tuesday, April 26th 2011 - 21:26 UTC

  Obama says there’s no magic bullet to bring down oil prices

  

  President Barack Obama has told fellow citizens there is no “magic bullet” to bring down high petrol prices and said he wants to end what he called US$4 billion in taxpayer subsidies to oil and gas companies.

• Tuesday, April 26th 2011 - 16:50 UTC

  Human rights situation in the US according to China and reported by Fidel

  

  The Cuban revolution leader Fidel Castro in his latest ‘Reflections’ column “The brutal and turbulent North” writes about China’s report on human rights in the United States, which is basically a counter report on Washington’s annual document on the human rights situation in each of the world’s countries.

• Thursday, April 21st 2011 - 06:57 UTC

  IMF says the US lacks a credible plan to cut its deficit in the mid term

  

  The United States lacks a credible plan to cut its deficit over the medium term, the International Monetary Fund's chief economist Olivier Blanchard told French daily Le Monde in an interview published Wednesday.

• Wednesday, April 20th 2011 - 01:07 UTC

  Google invests in the world’s largest wind farm in the state of Oregon

  

  Google Inc. said announced this week that together with two Japanese partners they will pay General Electric Co. about 500 million US dollars for a majority equity stake in the world's largest wind farm, under construction in Oregon.