WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Authorities declared an overnight curfew for Saturday after a major earthquake hit New Zealand's second biggest city, Christchurch, bringing down power lines and bridges and wrecking roads and building facades. "The damages are incredibly frightening. The only thing you ...

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pro-Taliban Pakistani militants are trying to fuel a sectarian rift, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday, as a new wave of violence piled pressure on a government already struggling with a flood crisis. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for bomb attacks ...

HOUSTON (Reuters) - BP Plc successfully replaced a failed blowout preventer from atop its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well late on Friday, the top U.S. official overseeing the spill response said. Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen called the equipment switch "an important milestone" ...

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - A suicide bomber struck a rally in the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday, killing at least 54 people in the second major attack this week and piling pressure on a U.S.-backed government overwhelmed by a flood crisis. Pakistan's Taliban claimed responsibility for the ...

HYANNIS, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Hurricane Earl, which earlier in the week was a storm of major proportions that threatened the U.S. East Coast, weakened to a tropical storm on Friday as it swirled offshore toward Canada. Earl was delivering heavy rain and gusty winds to parts of New England en ...

The world No. 1 search engine company said the probe is the first by a U.S. legal authority into the fairness of its rankings, which can make or break commercial websites. Google faces a similar probe by the European Commission, prompted by complaints from some small websites that felt they were ...

NEW YORK/DETROIT (Reuters) - The U.S. government is likely to take a loss on General Motors Co in the first offering of the automaker's stock, six people familiar with preparations for the landmark IPO said. Subsequent offerings of the government's holdings may be profitable depending on how ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employment fell for a third straight month in August, but the drop was far less than expected and private hiring was a positive surprise, relieving concerns about a stalling economic recovery. Nonfarm payrolls fell 54,000 as jobs were lost in the government sector, and ...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Friday he would outline new measures next week to boost the U.S. economy, but analysts were skeptical he would be able to deliver a big enough package to lift growth significantly. Obama made his remarks after August data showed that jobs -- ...

CHATHAM, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Residents and business owners in the beach communities of Cape Cod and nearby islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard hung plywood over their shop windows on Friday and rued the arrival of Hurricane Earl, which appeared set to spoil their holiday weekend. But ...