Italy's cruise liner tragedy turned into an environmental crisis Monday, as rough seas battering the stricken mega-ship raised fears that fuel might leak into pristine waters off Tuscany that are…Click to Continue »

Asian stock markets strengthened Friday on the last day of trading for 2011, following a brisk session on Wall Street, but the uptick could not blunt the effects of a grueling year in which investors booked sharp losses.Benchmark oil rose to near $100 per barrel and the dollar weakened against the yen and the euro.Japan's Nikkei 225 index, after three straight days of losses, rose 0.4 percent to 8...

The Virginia Tech police officer who was shot dead at his parked cruiser was a trained firearms and defense instructor with a specialty in crisis intervention. His death leaves investigators puzzling over how and why a gunman walked up to the patrol car during a traffic stop, killed the officer

Major central banks around the globe took coordinated action Wednesday to ease the strains on the world's financial system, saying they would make it easier for banks to get dollars if they need them. Stock markets and the euro rose sharply on the move.The European Central Bank, U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the central banks of Canada, Japan and Switzerland are all taking part.As ...

A strong start to the U.S. shopping season and fresh proposals for a far-reaching solution to Europe’s debt crisis sent stocks sharply higher today. The Dow Jones industrial average soared 300 points in afternoon trading, making up more than half of the ground it lost last week.Initial

A special deficit-reduction supercommittee appears likely to admit failure on Monday, unable or unwilling to compromise on a mix of spending cuts and tax increases required to meet its assignment of saving taxpayers at least $1.2 trillion over the coming decade.The panel is sputtering to a close after two months of talks in which the members were never able to get close to bridging a fundamental d...

South Carolina's Christian conservatives, personified by Bob Jones University presidents and alums, have both made and broken presidential campaigns.GOP candidates have for decades turned to the right to woo them after coming out of relatively moderate New Hampshire, and no Republican candidate since 1980 has become the nominee without winning South Carolina and its Bible-driven voters for whom a ...

Trouble on two fronts in the European debt crisis sent American stocks tumbling Wednesday to their biggest loss since the rocky trading of last summer. The Dow Jones industrial average fell almost 400 points.Stocks were down from the opening bell after borrowing costs in Italy spiked to dangerous

Premier Silvio Berlusconi says his decision to resign after parliament passes economic reforms is for the good of the country, and to settle financial markets that have lost confidence in Italy's ability to rein in debt and spur growth.Berlusconi said late Tuesday that he would prefer to call early elections, but that the decision rests with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.In comments that ma...

The jobs crisis may be easing slightly on the strength of a fourth straight month of modest hiring and a dip in the unemployment rate.Hiring slowed a bit in October. But the government said job growth was much stronger in August and September than first thought.Average hourly earnings rose

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

Responding to his insurgent campaign’s first crisis, Herman Cain was upbeat and defiant. “To quote my chief of staff and all the people around this country, ‘Let Herman be Herman,’“ he said Monday. “And Herman is gonna stay Herman.” I was afraid

It's one of the starkest tests of viability for any presidential candidate: crisis management, the ability to step past an explosive charge and re-direct the news. Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain, a relative newcomer to national politics, had trouble passing Monday during a whirlwind

under blankets and winter coats at home or waited out the crisis in shelters as utility crews struggled to fix pow...

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

A statewide ban on fake marijuana and “bath salts” is expected to go into effect Friday after the state health agency declared them a public health crisis.The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control is writing an emergency regulation that would be effective for 90 days, DHEC spokesman Adam Myrick said. The regulation would prohibit the sale and use of the drugs and would ...

Asian stock markets overcame early losses to mostly gain Wednesday as investors hoped for good news from the slew of corporate earnings reports due soon in the U.S.Oil prices fell to near $85 a barrel while the dollar was stronger against the euro and the yen.Asian stocks initially slipped after Slovakia, one of the smallest members of the 17-nation grouping that uses the euro, blocked a measure t...

Their chief target is Wall Street, but many of the demonstrators in New York and across the U.S. also are thoroughly disgusted with Washington, blaming politicians of both major parties for policies they say protect corporate America at the expense of the middle class."At this point I don't see any difference between George Bush and Obama. The middle class is a lot worse than when Obama was electe...

Oil prices fell to near $83 a barrel Wednesday in Asia after a sharp rally ahead of the release of key U.S. data that could indicate the economic health of the world's largest crude consumer nation.Benchmark oil fell $1.26, or 1.5 percent, to $83.19 a barrel at midafternoon Kuala Lumpur time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract surged $4.21 to finish at $84.45 pe...

Mounting evidence that the world economy is slowing down sharply sent global stock markets spiraling down Thursday as investors brushed off the U.S. Federal Reserve's efforts to spur growth and focused instead on the central bank's gloomy outlook.Oil and other commodities tumbled, too, in the face of several signs that economies are shifting into reverse: the Fed's assessment of the U.S. economy i...

Consumers grew more cautious last month amid wild stock market swings, zero job growth and heightened concerns that the economy has weakened. Retail sales were flat in August. At the same time, wholesale inflation leveled off. The latest data could give the Federal Reserve more impetus to adopt additional stimulus next week. “The combination of those two reports sets the stage for, and war...

Missoni madness swept store shelves and crashed Target’s website Tuesday as the retailer launched its latest designer partnership. Missoni for Target includes everything from cardigans and ballet flats to sheets and luggage from the Italian fashion house known for its bold zig-zag and geometric designs.And it was gone before you could say “What’s Missoni?”Fashionistas hauled aw...

The ranks of the nation’s poor have swelled to a record 46.2 million – nearly 1 in 6 Americans – as the prolonged pain of the recession leaves millions still struggling and out of work. And the number without health insurance has reached 49.9 million, the most in more than two decades. The figures are in a Census Bureau report, released Tuesday, that offers a somber snapshot o...

House Assistant Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn blamed President George W. Bush on Tuesday for the mountain of federal debt the S.C. lawmaker said accumulated through two unfunded wars and tax cuts for the wealthy.Clyburn, of Columbia, and other members of the deficit-reduction “super committee” received a sobering assessment of the daunting task ahead as they seek to close the spendi...

The number of homeless women veterans is increasing in North Carolina and South Carolina as they become a larger part of the military, but the resources to help them are limited.The Fayetteville Observer reported that the Department of Veterans Affairs says about 90 women veterans who are homeless live in the Fayetteville, home of Fort Bragg. The Post and Courier of Charleston, S.C., reports that ...

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

A Hampton Inn in the Harbison area was evacuated Tuesday morning after a man barricaded himself in a room and called police.The Columbia Police Department responded with a crisis negotiation team at the hotel on Woodcross Drive, said Jennifer Timmons, a department spokesman. The stand off lasted

The state Budget and Control Board voted unanimously today to increase the amount that state employees and their employers pay for their health insurance.The 9 percent increase was spread equally among employees and employers, with a 4.5 percent increase for each.State employees who only pay for their own health insurance will pay an extra 42 cents a month. State employees who also pay for their s...

British Prime Minister David Cameron recalled Parliament from its summer recess Tuesday and tripled the number of police on the streets of London to deal with the crisis touched off by three days of rioting.Cameron described the scenes of burning buildings and smashed windows in London

Violence and looting spread to new areas of London on Monday – and to a second major city – as shops and cars were set ablaze and authorities struggled to contain the spiraling disorder on a third night of rioting in Britain's capital, which will host next summer's Olympic Games.The worst unrest in London in decades saw buildings, vehicles and garbage dumps set alight, stores burgla...