United States

• Thursday, January 9th 2014 - 06:59 UTC

  Most Fed members agreed on December's stimulus reduction, indicate minutes

  

  Federal Reserve members mostly agreed about a reduction in the central bank's stimulus efforts in December, meeting minutes released Wednesday reveal. The central bank announced a $10bn a month reduction in its bond buying program at the end of its December meeting.

• Wednesday, January 8th 2014 - 20:17 UTC

  Kennedy in 1963 considered a military intervention in Brazil; a coup followed in 1964

  

  Former US President John F Kennedy mulled possible military intervention in Brazil one year before the 1964 coup that ousted then constitutional president Joao Goulart, according to archive documents released on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, January 8th 2014 - 05:07 UTC

  All 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.

• Tuesday, January 7th 2014 - 23:28 UTC

  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.

• Tuesday, January 7th 2014 - 05:58 UTC

  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.

• Monday, January 6th 2014 - 06:47 UTC

  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.

• Thursday, January 2nd 2014 - 15:40 UTC

  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.

• Sunday, December 29th 2013 - 08:24 UTC

  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.

• Thursday, December 26th 2013 - 05:52 UTC

  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.

• Friday, December 20th 2013 - 06:54 UTC

  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.