CANNES, France — Leaders of the world’s most industrialized nations scrambled Thursday to rescue a European Union deal to restructure Greek debts and prevent a regional financial crisis from spreading and creating further global economic disruption. President Barack Obama

European leaders clinched a deal Thursday they hope will mark a turning point in their two-year debt crisis, agreeing after a night of tense negotiations to have banks take bigger losses on Greece's debts and to boost the region's weapons against the market turmoil.After months of dawdling and half

crisis. Local leaders and business owners say they aren’t as fearful this time. But they acknowled...

Rupert Murdoch touched down in London on Sunday to take charge of his media empire's phone-hacking crisis as his best-selling Sunday tabloid, the News of the World, published its last. The scandal lives on despite his sacrifice of the 168-year-old paper at the heart of it.The scrapping of the News

Greece's lawmakers approved a key austerity bill Wednesday needed to avert default next month, despite a second day of rioting on the streets of Athens that left dozens of police and protesters injured.The passage of the bill was a decisive step for the country to get the next batch of bailout loans from international creditors and was met with a huge sigh of relief in markets and by Greece's part...

A nationwide debate about circumcisions for newborn boys, combined with cash-strapped public health budgets, has Colorado taking sides with 17 other states that no longer fund Medicaid coverage of the once widely accepted procedure.For years, Colorado lawmakers considered doing away with funding for circumcisions under Medicaid - a move that would save the state $186,500 a year. Now facing a seism...

Japan raised the assessment of its nuclear crisis to the most severe rating Tuesday, on the same level as the Chernobyl disaster, the world's worst to date. Some answers to questions about the assessment and health and safety concerns:Q. Has the situation at the Japanese nuclear power plant

An envoy of Moammar Gadhafi told Greece's prime minister Sunday that the Libyan leader was seeking a way out of his country's crisis two weeks after his government's attacks to put down a rebellion drew international airstrikes, Greek officials said.Abdul-Ati al-Obeidi, a former Libyan prime

Japan's nuclear safety agency raised the severity rating of the country's nuclear crisis Friday from Level 4 to Level 5 on a seven-level international scale, putting it on par with the Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania in 1979.Ryohei Shiomi, a spokesman for the nuclear safety agency

The Japanese government acknowledged Friday that it was overwhelmed by the scale of last week's twin natural disasters, slowing the response to the nuclear crisis that was triggered by the earthquake and tsunami that left at least 10,000 people dead.The admission came as Japan welcomed U.S. help

Japan ordered emergency workers to withdraw from its stricken nuclear complex Wednesday amid a surge in radiation, temporarily suspending efforts to cool the overheating reactors. Hours later, officials said they were preparing to send the team back in.Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the workers, who had been dousing the reactors with seawater in a frantic effort to stabilize their temper...

Few U.S. diplomats had the breadth, depth or length of service of Richard Holbrooke, who wrote part of the Pentagon Papers, was the architect of the 1995 Bosnia peace accords and served as President Barack Obama's special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan.Holbrooke's unexpected death Monday at 69, following surgery for a tear in his aorta, marked the end of a storied career. He served through defi...

The top budget writer in the South Carolina House said Wednesday he's spoken with Gov.-elect Nikki Haley and will help her fiscal crisis panel devise ways to put the state budget on track."I think we're going to work together on that," said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Cooper

Israeli commandos rappelled down to an aid flotilla sailing to thwart a Gaza blockade on Monday, clashing with pro-Palestinian activists on the lead ship in a botched raid that left at least nine passengers dead.Bloodied passengers sprawled on the deck and troops dived into the sea to save themselves during several hours of hand-to-hand fighting that injured dozens of activists and six soldiers. H...

The Republicans vying to become South Carolina's next governor say there's room to cut taxes when they take office even though the state is in the midst of a massive budget crisis.U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, state Rep. Nikki Haley and state Attorney General Henry McMaster do have some plans for the state's suffering finances that overlap. Some plan hard looks at taxes on manuf...

Regulators on Friday shut down a bank in South Carolina, marking 42 bank failures in the U.S. so far this year amid mounting loan defaults, especially in commercial real estate.The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over Beach First National Bank, based in Myrtle Beach, S.C., with $585.1 million in assets and $516 million in deposits. Bank of North Carolina, based in Thomasville, N.C., agreed to...