WASHINGTON, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) — The U.S. State Department Monday said that it will conduct a special review of an environmentally controversial project to build an oil pipeline from western Canada to the southern U.S. state of Texas.

The State Department’s Inspector General Harold Geisel said that the review will focus on whether the department has followed all federal laws and regulations in evaluating the Keystone XL oil pipeline project, which will cost 7 billion U.S. dollars. Continue Reading

NEW YORK, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) — U.S. stocks ended higher in choppy trading on Monday as investors were wary that the debt crisis in European will spread to Italy.

The blue-chip Dow gained about 0.7 percent at the close. The broader S&P 500 jumped more than 0.6 percent and the tech-heavy Nasdaq added over 0.3 percent.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) — The U.S. economy is expected to grow by 1.6 to 1.7 percent in 2011, a downward revision of the previous projection, said the Federal Reserve on Wednesday.

The economy is expected to grow by 2.5 percent to 2.9 percent next year, said the U.S. central bank in an update projection released at a press conference after the Fed’s interest rate policymaking meeting. Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) — U.S. economic growth picked up pace to 2.5 percent in the third quarter of this year, easing recession jitters, but experts held that the economy was confronted with a slew of domestic and international challenges.

The growth rate of the real gross domestic product (GDP) in the June-September period was the best quarterly performance since the start of this year, a welcome relief for the world’s largest economy, which was on the brink of a double-dip recession for the first half of the year. Continue Reading

NEW YORK, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) — Wall Street rose on Wednesday as news from Europe showed more positive signs about a resolution for sovereign debt crisis on the region’s leaders summit.

The European leaders are meeting in Brussel to figure out how to address the debt crisis. According to sources, the euro zone was talking about expanding the EFSF bailout fund to 1 trillion euros.

Encouragingly, German lawmakers voted 503 to 89 with four abstentions in favor of leveraging the European bailout fund to make it more effective, adding to the chance for EU leaders Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) — Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives John Boehner reiterated on Tuesday his opposition to taking up a bill passed by the Senate on so-called China’s currency manipulation, saying that it is “a very dangerous policy. ”

Boehner told a news conference that President Barack Obama should take the lead on the issue of China’s currency, instead. ” The fact is the president of the United States should ought to stand up and take a position,” he said. Continue Reading

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) — The Obama administration said on Monday that it would bypass the obstruction from an uncooperative Congress to take steps to jumpstart the weak economy, after the administration’s recent jobs plan met strong obstruction from Republican rivals.

“As we’ve seen now twice, Republicans have in lockstep voted no to jobs bill that most recently would have put up to 400,000 teachers and firefighters and police back to work. Previous to that, they voted no in unison, 100 percent, against the full American jobs bill,” the White House spokesman Jay Carney said. Continue Reading

HOUSTON, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) — The U.S. federal government on Friday approved British oil giant BP’s plan to drill new deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico.

The project would be BP’s first such well in the Gulf since last year’s explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that killed 11 workers and unleashed the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Continue Reading

NEW YORK, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) — U.S. stocks rallied on Friday, with the Dow ending higher for the fourth week in a row, as investors expect a solution to the European debt woes.

The Dow Jones industrial average surged 267.01 points, or 2.31 percent, to 11,808.79. The Standard & Poor’s 500 rallied 22.86 points, or 1.88 percent, to 1,238.25. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 38.84 points, or 1.49 percent, to 2,637.46. Continue Reading

NEW YORK, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) — U.S. stocks extended losses on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said the economy was losing steam across much of the nation.

The blue-chip Dow lost about 0.6 percent at the close. The broader S&P 500 dropped nearly 1.3 percent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbled more than 2 percent, the worst performer among major indexes.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) — Apple on Monday announced that it has sold more than four million of its new iPhone 4S, three days after the launch last Friday.

“IPhone 4S is off to a great start with more than four million sold in its first weekend–the most ever for a phone and more than double the iPhone 4 launch during its first three days,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing. Continue Reading

NEW YORK, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) — U.S. stocks tumbled on Monday, with major indexes suffering biggest losses in two weeks, as worries over European debt problems once again weighed on the market.

All three major averages plunged about 2 percent at the close, with materials and financials leading the decliners.