United States

• Wednesday, August 31st 2011 - 21:17 UTC

  US consumers’ confidence plummets to lowest since April 2009 on jobs concern

  

  The confidence of US consumers in the country’s economy fell sharply in August and reached its lowest level since April 2009, The Conference Board reported on Tuesday, attributing the decline in part to the lengthy congressional negotiations to raise the debt limit.

• Wednesday, August 31st 2011 - 09:00 UTC

  Dissenting Fed member pledges unity but makes different reading of data available

  

  Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Narayana Kocherlakota signalled he would not attempt to annul the Fed’s commitment to keep interest rates near zero through mid-2013.

• Tuesday, August 30th 2011 - 03:56 UTC

  Nobel laureate praises Argentina; tells US and EU spending is the way out of recession

  

  United States and the European Union “are using the same recipe that the IMF applied on Argentina” to address the current global financial crisis and this only leads to “stagnation” said Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz attending a gathering of Nobel Prize recipients and young economists in Lindau, Germany.

• Tuesday, August 30th 2011 - 03:48 UTC

  Obama names labour expert as White House advisor in economics

  

  US President Barack Obama announced Monday he has chosen Princeton University labour economist Alan Krueger to become the top White House economist, a White House official said.

• Tuesday, August 30th 2011 - 03:47 UTC

  New York City recovering from Irene, but Vermont ravaged by flood waters

  

  Although hurricane Irene crossed into Canada overnight Sunday but wasn't yet through with the United States, where flood waters in Vermont caused the greatest damage in 75 years and in New York state big city commuters had to make do with slowly reawakening transit systems.

• Sunday, August 28th 2011 - 09:31 UTC

  Hurricane Irene blasts New York

  

  Hurricane Irene tore Sunday into New York, hammering Manhattan's skyscrapers with fierce winds and threatening to flood the financial district after killing at least nine people along the US east coast.

• Saturday, August 27th 2011 - 07:35 UTC

  New York evacuates 250.000 people in anticipation of hurricane Irene

  

  Authorities in New York City ordered mandatory evacuation of all low-lying areas before Hurricane Irene hits, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Friday. Bloomberg told a press conference that the evacuation - estimated at more than 250,000 people - could begin when shelters open at 4 pm.

• Saturday, August 27th 2011 - 07:25 UTC

  Ex IMF chief is given back passport and can travel a free man

  

  Dominique Strauss-Kahn was given back his passport on Thursday, his legal team said, clearing the way for the former IMF head to travel abroad for the first time since his arrest three months ago on sex crime charges.

• Saturday, August 27th 2011 - 07:21 UTC

  Mexico demands crackdown on drugs in the US following casino carnage

  

  Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared three days of mourning Friday and demanded a crackdown on drugs in the United States after armed men torched a casino in northern Mexico, killing at least 65 people.

• Friday, August 26th 2011 - 15:56 UTC

  Bernanke defers announcement; sends US Congress strong message on fiscal deficit

  

  The chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, has signalled that the US central bank will not take any immediate action to boost growth. In a keenly anticipated speech, Mr Bernanke simply said the Fed had a “range of tools that could be used to provide additional monetary stimulus”.