The United States and its European partner the European Union will be adding more sanctions against Iran to make it tougher for the country. The goal of the new sanctions is punishing Iran for their current nuclear program that is on the path to creating a nuclear weapon. The new sanctions also are an attempt to help restrain the country of Israel from attacking Iran with his military. The new moves by Western allies have become more urgent after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu form Israel set... 

In the past weeks, the US banking industry has been a target for a growing number of cyber attacks. While cyber attacks are nothing new for the industry, the scale and coordination of the recent events are somewhat unprecedented, putting banks on the defensive while customers also worry the impact of the attacks. To date, none of the recent attacks have jeopardized customer data, instead only causing an inconvenience as many bank websites and ATM networks have been slow or brought down all together.... 

In the past four years, there has been a significant spike in the amount of shareholder lawsuits. Investors have grown increasingly leery of firms as they worry they have been misled as the firms they own are mismanaged. In the past week alone, the Charlotte based Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) has agreed to settle with investors over the Merrill Lynch acquisition, while UBS (NYSE: UBS) has faced similar scrutiny due to representations they have made. While Bank of America has settled, UBS has not,... 

The global market for mergers and acquisitions has been hampered – as firms strive to assess what future market conditions will demand, M&A activity on the whole has been low. Globally, mergers and acquisitions this quarter have slumped to a level unseen since the aftermath of the financial crisis amid concern the economic recovery is waning. Citigroup (NYSE: C) now sees that changing, at least in the Korean market. If the assessment is correct, it will reverse a troubling trend for the world’s... 

The Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) brand has been a stable of American west coast financial services for well over a century. While it’s dominance on the west coast has long been held, the firm clearly has bigger aspirations, to achieve greater market penetration in the east coast and abroad. The acquisition of the former Wachovia brand has helped grow the deposit base and customer relationships on the east coast corridor they were once nearly absent from, and actions the firm is taking overseas are similarly... 

Since the financial crisis of 2008, shares of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) have struggled to regain footing. The firm has been embroiled in literally thousands of lawsuits, while also facing increased scrutiny from regulators. Much of this attention can be linked to the acquisitions the firm made in the time leading up to the financial crash, first with the purchase of Countrywide, the nation’s largest sub prime mortgage lender, and then with Merrill Lynch, a firm which was falling, fast. The Countrywide... 

Fines and settlements are appearing on epidemic proportions in financial services today. Multiple notable cases are reflecting a troubling trend, of firms violating limits put in place to limit risk in the financial system in off the radar financial market places. Earlier this week, news broke that the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) would pay a $12 million settlement for a ‘pay to play’ scheme carried out over a number of years. The Merrill Lynch division of Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) was... 

China’s economic growth for the past decade has been far above the world average, and significantly faster than key counterparts in Europe and the United States. However, the near 10% annual growth they have enjoyed may soon be coming to an end, if forecasts out of The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) are correct. Jim O’Neill, Chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management expects China’s economy to grow at a much slower pace of about seven percent over the next decade, but its stock... 

While President Barack Obama was focusing on his fundraising, Vice President Joe Biden was campaigning on Friday by attacking challenger Mitt Romney over Social Security. Biden started a two-day trip through Florida on Friday, which is home to a large number of senior citizens. Biden started the trip by saying the proposed tax cuts by Romney would actually create higher taxes on the current Social Security benefits so that the program could be sustained. Biden said it could mean all taxpayers would... 

Heineken NV has spent another $4 billion to take control of Tiger Beer as part of the company’s strategy of expanding significantly into Asia. Singapore based Fraser & Neave’s shareholders agreed on Friday to sell their stake of 39.7% of Asian Pacific Breweries to Heineken. Asian Pacific Breweries own Tiger and a number of other brands of beer that are very popular throughout Asia. Following the agreement on Friday and through other share purchases made recently, Heineken now controls about... 

US Bancorp customers had a hard time loading the company’s web site and do online transactions. Its spokesman Tom Joyce said that the site remained up during the purported attack. According to its web admins, the Minneapolis bank got unusually high web traffic that was similar to what the other major banks have experienced over the last two weeks. It was reported that Wells Fargo & Co.’s web site was attacked Tuesday. These are part of the attacks on US banks made by supposed Middle East... 

A new form of genetic analysis by researchers of breast cancer found four distinct forms of the disease. Experts said this explains why a drug therapy for one type of the cancer might not work to help cure another form. The new findings are just the latest rewards for a huge project of cancer-gene mapping that is offering hope of even more effective forms of treatment for the disease, with drugs that are already available. What is probably the most intriguing discovery thus far by the Cancer Genome... 

Andy Williams, who might be best known for his Moon River rendition that propelled him to stardom during the 1960s died on Tuesday in Branson, Missouri at his home. Williams had been battling bladder cancer it was announced his family. The singer was 84. In 2012, he celebrated his 75th year in show business. Williams leaves his wife Debbie and three children Christian, Noelle and Robert. In his career, Williams had three platinum and 17 gold records. He enjoyed his later years in life playing golf,... 

Discover Financial Services agreed to pay $200 million in refunds to more than 3.5 million customers who paid for credit protection services over the phone. The company must also pay $14 million in civil penalties to banking regulators. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have investigated Discover with regards to its deceptive telemarketing and sales practices. These include misleading customers into thinking that identity theft protection and credit... 

The third week of the NFL regular season ended Monday night with the Seattle Seahawks defeating the Green Bay Packers 14-12. However, the controversy over blown calls by replacement officials in that game and many others is alive and well. Football writers, players and coaches believe the call that decided the game on Monday was one of the worst they have seen since replacement officials started in week one of the season. Players have started to complain that the integrity of the game is on the line... 

Skiing is one of the most common snow activities in the whole world. Skiing can even become a competitive sport. Whether you are traveling for pleasure or for business, skiing can be a great past time. During the year, there are many places in the United States that you can go skiing. Many people travel all around the world for the perfect spot to ski. The cost can be overwhelming at times. It is greatly important to know how to find the best luxury ski deals. People may think they can’t afford... 

Millions of Americans are frustrated of not finding work. Most of them have already given up looking for one. Some young adult had to move back to their parents’ homes. Some parents are also helping out with the college debt of their broods. Economists have estimated that around 4 million fewer people are in the labor force compared to December 2007. This was due to the lack of jobs available instead of the normal aging of the population in the United States. If the discouraged job seekers are... 

The new immigration law that was designed to rid Alabama of undocumented immigrants has helped to give new jobs to other immigrants. Immigrants from who were living in Atlanta have become the unexpected beneficiaries of available work in factories and farms throughout Alabama. The results are not what the supporters of the law thought would happen. Senator Scott Beason a Republican and a sponsor of the legislation said last year that the new restrictions against undocumented immigrants would give... 

For a number of generations, it was understood that children would have longer lives on average than their parents. However, evidence is mounting that the trend has reversed for the least-educated whites in the country, a group that is increasingly troubled and whose life expectancy has dropped since 1990 by four years. For many years, researchers have documented that America’s most educated were making the most significant gains in increasing life expectancy. However, researchers now say that... 

Next year, the way kidneys that have been donated are allocated to those in need of a transplant, could change. The change would make the fittest organ available to those with the longest probability of living with the new kidney. The United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) made the announcement this week. The organization, which is non-profit, manages U.S. organ donations. Over 93,000 people living in the U.S. are currently on a waiting list for a kidney and the supply is far outweighed by the demand.... 

The internet has made shopping for a lot of the things that people want a lot easier and much more convenient. Because of the power of the internet, many people spend more of their time shopping online; from the comfort of their homes, instead of bouncing from store to store. Most people have found that shopping this way has made it easier for them to compare products while avoiding lines altogether. People can buy all types of goods online. Everything from clothes to cleaning supplies can be purchased... 

The highly provocative ad that implies that some Muslims who are radical are also savages will start appearing in New York City on Monday. The ad will start only two weeks after violent protests at diplomatic missions of the United States killed four Americans in the Middle East. The protests were due to an anti-Islam film that depicted Muhammad as a womanizer, child abuser and fraud. A conservative blogger was able to win a court order allowing her to post the controversial ads starting on September... 

Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), the nation’s second  largest bank, plans to cut 16,000 by the end of this year, according to a report  published in The Wall Street Journal. The cuts come at a precarious time as the nation continues to struggle from unemployment, with a weak labor market on the minds of millions of Americans heading into an election season. If carried out, the Charlotte, North Carolina  based behemoth plan would end its run as the largest banking employer in the  U.S. and could... 

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) recently completed the investment stage for its 2007 fund, raising $20.7 billion, but  market insiders don’t expect it to return to market  seeking a similar sized pool of capital. The firm’s global head  of Goldman’s merchant banking unit which hangles the firm’s private equity  investments, Richard Friedman, said he’d likely seek between $7 billion and $10  billion for the firm’s next vehicle. Friedman commented “We’ve all had to  readjust our strategies... 

With no end in sight, the Charlotte based banking giant Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) is once again looking to slash costs in its businesses, this time aiming to take out 16,000 jobs by the end of this year. Chief Executive Officer Brian Moynihan has been guiding the ship he inherited from ousted CEO Ken Lewis in 2009, and has faced a relentless tidal wave of conflict ever since. The firm has faced thousands of lawsuits, accusations of robo signing in their default process, falling profits, and falling...