Russia will host the 2018 World Cup and Qatar will host the soccer tournament four years later in 2022, the World Cup’s governing body announced Thursday. Qatar, a small but wealthy nation in the Middle East, beat out much larger nations for the bid, including the United States. Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al-Thani, the son [...]

It is reported that Google is working out an agreement to buy the online coupon service Groupon for about $5 to $6 billon. On Tuesday, the deal surfaced and could be settled as soon as next week, people with knowledge of the companies’ negotiation told the media. The purchase would help Google benefit from the [...]

Managers at NASA made the call to delay the next launch of the space shuttle Discovery until at least Dec. 17. Workers are still trying to determine what exactly caused the cracks within the shuttle’s external fuel tank. On Wednesday, officials were contemplating a launch attempt between Dec. 3 and Dec. 6, but they decided [...]

Lawmakers began a lame-duck session in Washington dealing with a few simple tasks before heading for the Thanksgiving week and leaving some major pieces of legislation still left to be dealt with. That leaves the four weeks between Nov. 29 and Christmas for dealing with major tax issues and spending proposals. Very first on their [...]

Five days after a major gas explosion trapped 29 New Zealand coal miners underground, hope of their eventual rescue was fading Tuesday. A robot working its way toward the miners broke down. Police superintendent Gary Knowles said the robot broke because of water damage and “can no longer be used.” Knowles said also that the [...]

Republicans in the US House voted to stop an extension of jobless benefits and worked to cut funds from government going to National Public Radio. On Thursday, the two moves were indicative of past GOP tactics. Republicans have long pushed to have any extension of unemployment benefits covered by cuts to government spending. “This couldn’t [...]

The European economy is rebounding much quicker than expected from the worldwide economic recession. Companies in the EU are expected to hire 600,000 new workers in the next year, according to a report released Monday. The economic outlook from Business Europe has economic output from the European Union raising 1.8 percent during the year because [...]

Everyone has heard the phrase “spring forward and fall back” as a way to remember the seasonal time adjustments, but where does the tradition of daylight saving time come from. Also everyone one in the United States will set their clocks back one hour on Sunday, November 7. The official time to do it is [...]

The shuttle was tentatively scheduled to lift off at 3:04 p.m. Friday. Engineers scheduled to begin fueling up the space shuttle at around 5:40 a.m. Bad weather at the Kennedy Space Center on Thursday forced NASA officials to push back the launch of the space shuttle Discovery at least another day. The Mission Management Team [...]

Tropical Storm Shary moved into the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean after missing Bermuda. The storm, which has sustained winds of 70 mph as it approached the island nation, prompted officials to shut down ferry services and urge residents to secure boats. A new threat, Hurricane Tomas, hit the eastern Caribbean on Saturday, damaging [...]

The huge strikes hitting France are costing the nation as much as $562 million every day, the country’s finance minister said Monday. The statement came as striking workers continued to block access to ports, trash incineration plants and oil refineries in protest of an effort to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. The [...]

AOL Inc. and a group of private-equity investors are considering a purchase of Yahoo Inc., a move that would combine two well-known Internet companies who have struggled in recent years. Investment groups interested in combining the companies include Blackstone Group LP and Silver Lake Partners, but at least two other investment groups have also expressed [...]