A customs dispute between the Afghan and US governments has disrupted the withdrawal of American military equipment, dramatically inflating the cost of the drawdown.
President Robert Mugabe on Thursday rebuked the "insane" US for criticising his push for elections without key reforms and told it to keep its "pink nose" out of Zimbabwe's affairs.
The palatial Miami villa where fashion icon Gianni Versace was shot dead in 1997 is to be sold at auction and is expected to fetch more than $50 million.
Japan's Panasonic and its subsidiary Sanyo have each pleaded guilty to price-fixing involving auto parts and battery cells, agreeing to pay $56.5 million in fines.
Detroit on Thursday became the largest city in US history to file for bankruptcy protection after decades of decline and mismanagement rendered the home of the nation's auto industry insolvent.
Michael Jackson's mother Katherine will finally take the stand Friday at her trial against tour promoters AEG Live, who she alleges negligently hired the doctor convicted over the star's 2009 death.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday that his intense diplomacy in six visits to the Middle East was bearing fruit, narrowing gaps between Israel and the Palestinians.
US President Barack Obama paid warm tribute to South Africa's Nelson Mandela for his 95th birthday on Thursday, which the anti-apartheid icon will spend in hospital recovering from a lung infection.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reiterated Wednesday that the Fed is nowhere close to raising interest rates, assuring markets that the US easy money tap would not soon dry up.
Rolling Stone defended Wednesday a cover story on Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, which triggered angry claims that it was "glamorizing terrorism" and calls to boycott the US magazine.
Medical research that uses animals to test therapies for human brain disorders is often biased, claiming positive results and then failing in human trials.