DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - Republican voters in Iowa open a long and grueling 2012 presidential race on Tuesday, with polls showing Mitt Romney battling Ron Paul for a momentum-generating win in the party’s kickoff nominating contest.
(Reuters) - Boeing Co beat out Lockheed Martin to retain its position as the prime contractor for the U.S. long-range missile shield, the Pentagon said on Friday.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s factory activity shrank again December as demand at home and abroad slackened, a purchasing managers’ survey showed on Friday, reinforcing the case for pro-growth policies to underpin the world’s second-largest economy.
(Reuters) - Former Hewlett Packard CEO Mark Hurd made increasingly aggressive romantic advances over several years toward an independent contractor who later accused him of sexual harassment, according to claims in a letter from her lawyer obtained by Reuters.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New claims for jobless benefits rose last week but the underlying trend pointed to an improving labor market, while regional factory data showed the economy gaining momentum as the year ended.
MILAN/ROME (Reuters) - Italy’s PM called for significantly more firepower for the euro zone’s bailout fund after a bond auction did little to ease concerns over how the country would finance public spending in the next few months.
(Reuters) - Alibaba Group has hired a Washington lobbying firm in a sign that the Chinese e-commerce company would be willing to make a bid for all of Yahoo Inc in the event that talks to unwind their Asian partnership fail.
SEOUL (Reuters) - The world watched anxiously on Wednesday as North Korea staged a huge funeral in the capital, Pyongyang, for former leader Kim Jong-il, searching for signs of what to expect from the isolated nation that may be close to attaining nuclear weapons capacity.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumer confidence hit an eight month high in December on improving job prospects, lending the economy further support, even though weak home prices could delay a recovery in the housing market.
(Reuters) - Sears Holdings Corp will close up to 120 stores in its Kmart and namesake chains, blaming poor sales of consumer electronics so far this holiday season and saying it would focus its energy on its better performing stores.