United States

• Thursday, December 16th 2010 - 03:55 UTC

  Facebook Mark Zuckerberg is Time’s Person of the year 2010

  

  The creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg has been announced as Time magazine’s person of the year 2010, “for changing how we all live our lives in ways that are innovative and even optimistic”.

• Wednesday, December 15th 2010 - 04:31 UTC

  Fed admits economic recovery too soft to bring down unemployment level

  

  The US economic recovery is still too soft to bring down the country's high level of unemployment, the Federal Reserve warned on Tuesday. The central bank made the comment as it reaffirmed its commitment to continue purchasing 600 billion in bonds to stimulate the economy.

• Wednesday, December 8th 2010 - 07:19 UTC

  Obama defends tax deal with Republicans: “real money for real people”

  

  President Barack Obama said on Tuesday the tentative tax deal he struck with Republicans is a good deal for the American people and a long political fight over tax cuts would have been bad for the US economy.

• Tuesday, December 7th 2010 - 18:50 UTC

  HSBC sued 9 billion USD by Maddoff’s investment liquidation trustee

  

  The trustee for the liquidation of Bernard Madoff's investment firm is suing HSBC for 9 billion USD. Irving Picard, who is seeking to recover funds on behalf of Madoff's victims, is alleging 24 counts of fraud and misconduct against the bank.

• Tuesday, December 7th 2010 - 18:46 UTC

  US Treasury admits making 12 billion profit with Citigroup rescue package

  

  The US Treasury has sold its remaining stake in Citigroup, in a deal which it says will make a 12 billion USD profit on its overall investment. Citigroup was one of the worst victims of the financial crisis, and the US government stepped in with 45 billion bail-out cash in 2008 and 2009.

• Tuesday, December 7th 2010 - 08:05 UTC

  Brazil and U.S. open-skies agreement; fully operational in 2015

  

  Representatives of the United States and Brazil have singed an Open-Skies aviation services agreement which will significantly liberalize U.S.-Brazil air services for airlines of both countries over a transition period, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

• Tuesday, December 7th 2010 - 07:43 UTC

  Wikileaks and Latin America: Same Old Imperious U.S. Diplomats

  

  by Former Senior Research Fellow Nikolas Kozloff
  As more and more documents become available from Wikileaks, the public has gotten a novel and close up view of U.S. diplomats and their operations abroad.

• Monday, December 6th 2010 - 05:17 UTC

  Federal Reserve names banks that appealed to its emergency loans

  

  The US Federal Reserve has named the companies that used its emergency loan facilities during the financial crisis and revealed how much they borrowed. Details of more than 21,000 transactions aimed at stabilising financial markets have been posted on the Fed's website.

• Friday, December 3rd 2010 - 06:44 UTC

  Hillary Clinton rings Cristina Fernandez and apologizes for the cables

  

  United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Thursday afternoon to apologize in relation to the WikiLeaks release of confidential diplomatic documents, including one in which the US Embassy in Buenos Aires is requested to gather information on the personality and mental health of the Argentine leader.

• Friday, December 3rd 2010 - 05:45 UTC

  Arsenic loving bacteria, another form of life right here on Earth

  

  The first organism able to substitute one of the six chemical elements crucial to life has been found. The bacterium, found in a California lake, uses the usually poisonous element arsenic in place of phosphorus.