By John W. Schoen, Senior Producer A healthy pickup in production of manufactured goods last month added to the gathering momentum for the U.S. economy. So far, that growth has done little to help the job prospects for the millions of factory workers still sidelined by the 2007 recession. U.S. factories continued to ramp up [...]

LONDON ? Stocks rose Friday around the world as markets unnerved by the eurozone’s debt crisis welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s call for changes to EU treaties to enforce fiscal discipline. In a closely scrutinized speech to Germany’s parliament, Merkel said the 17 nations that use the euro currency must move quickly to restore market [...]

NEW YORK (AP) ? A new national survey shows that the way people pay for theater tickets has changed over the past few years, with subscription sales down but single-ticket purchases up. The Theatre Communications Group issued a report this week that showed average subscription income dropped by 15.1 percent for 113 theaters between 2006 [...]

MOSCOW ? A poll released Friday predicts that Vladimir Putin’s party will receive 53 percent of the vote in Russia’s parliamentary election, now a little over a week away. While still a majority, this would be a significant drop for United Russia and deprive it of the two-thirds majority that has allowed it to amend [...]

?A National Post graphic does a good job showing causes of death across Canada by percentage, and notes that, for the first time, cancer is the leading cause in every province, responsible for about 30 percent of all deaths. That is a heartbreaking number, not least because cancer is a disease (or set of diseases, [...]

Metal prices fell Monday on increasing doubts that European leaders will act soon to contain that region’s financial crisis. Copper for December delivery dropped 3.05 cents, or nearly 1 percent, to end at $3.3780 a pound. January platinum fell $3.10 to finish at $1,551.80 an ounce. December palladium lost $3.75, or 0.6 percent, to $616.80 [...]

WASHINGTON ? Catherine Devine had her first brush with an online bully in seventh grade, before she’d even ventured onto the Internet. Someone set up the screen name “devinegirl” and, posing as Catherine, sent her classmates instant messages full of trashy talk and lies. “They were making things up about me, and I was the [...]

MELBOURNE/LONDON (Reuters) ? BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) (BLT.L) delivered a record second-half profit on Wednesday, driven by soaring prices for iron ore, allowing it to award a dividend hike on top of its hefty expansion plans. The world’s biggest miner nevertheless joined it peers in sounding a warning over escalating costs and disappointed some investors by [...]

The Dow closed down 54 points, the S&P 500 lost 9 points, and the Nasdaq fell 34 points after Bernanke said the Fed has no immediate plans to institute a third round of quantitative easing NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks are closing lower after remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke dimmed hopes for a [...]