HATTERAS ISLAND, North Carolina (Reuters) - Hurricane Earl began to strafe North Carolina's barrier islands with dangerous surf and winds on Thursday as it spun parallel to the U.S. East Coast on a northward trek toward New England and Canada. Earl was downgraded to a Category 2 storm on the ...

Obama said on Monday he and his advisers are discussing further tax cuts for businesses to help create jobs, as well as an extension of tax cuts for the middle class, rebuilding U.S. infrastructure and increasing investments in clean energy and research and development. The Washington Post ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will roll out more regulations on greenhouse gases and other pollution to help fight climate change, but they will not be as strong as action by Congress, a senior administration official said. The agency "has a huge role to play ...

HOUSTON (Reuters) - BP Plc said it removed a cap from equipment atop its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well on Thursday, the first of several steps in advance of plugging the leak for good. Spokeswoman Jessie Baker said underwater robots removed the cap as planned.

Harvard students enrolled in Warren's contracts class were informed that a different professor will be teaching the class instead, according to a report in The Washington Post, which obtained a copy of an email to the students. "Professor Warren regrets that she will not be able to teach you ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Burger King Holdings Inc agreed to sell itself to investment firm 3G Capital for $3.26 billion, giving the No. 2 U.S. fast-food chain breathing room to fix its business and close the gap with leader McDonald's Corp. At $24 per share, the offer represents a 46 percent ...

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's government sought to avert a run on the country's top private bank by nervous investors after directors at Kabulbank resigned, ostensibly to meet new rules but also amid media allegations of graft. Long queues were seen outside several Kabulbank branches in the ...

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada conducted separate reviews of the diapers in response to nearly 4,700 incident reports of diaper rash arising from Pampers Dry Max, according to a CPSC statement. The Dry Max diapers, promoted as thinner and more absorbent than other ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hewlett-Packard Co won the bidding war to buy data storage company 3PAR Inc for $2.4 billion, as rival Dell Inc bowed out on Thursday. HP raised its cash offer by $3 to $33 per share, beating Dell's $32-a-share offer and ending an escalation of bids that many analysts said had ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Google Inc is in talks with music labels on plans for a download store and a digital song locker that would allow its mobile users to play songs wherever they are as it steps up its rivalry with Apple Inc, according to people familiar with the matter. Google's Andy Rubin, the ...