U.S. National - Reuters

MIAMI (Reuters) - It's a crime so profitable that even dead people are in on the act.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Up to 134 million U.S. consumers may shop for holiday gifts this Thanksgiving weekend, although most will check the bargains before venturing out, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Washington Post is closing its last U.S. bureaus outside the nation's capital as the money-losing newspaper retrenches to focus on politics and local news.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole and a man wanted in connection with the bombing of a 1982 Pan Am flight have been added to the U.S. government's list of "Most Wanted Terrorists," the FBI said on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Tuesday imposed its first-ever punishment against airlines for stranding passengers aboard aircraft, fining three carriers $175,000 for a six-hour ordeal in Minnesota.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Attorneys for tenants in a vast New York City apartment complex said they would ask the state court to set the next 2010 rents if negotiations with landlord Tishman Speyer are unsuccessful.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Tuesday urged Americans to volunteer to help feed their neighbors, noting that almost 15 percent of the country's households had a hard time getting enough to eat last year.

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Reuters) - Accused Ponzi schemer Tom Petters will wait at least six more days to learn his fate after a federal jury adjourned deliberations without reaching a verdict over whether he orchestrated a $3.65 billion fraud.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Director and comic actor Tyler Perry, whose films include the recent "I Can Do Bad All By Myself," has given $1 million to the NAACP in the largest gift ever by a single person to that civil rights group.

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Two Lebanese men were charged on Tuesday with attempting to provide material support to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah by exporting machine guns to Syria from Philadelphia, U.S. authorities said.

OVERLAND PARK, Kansas (Reuters) - Dave Huston's Kansas-based plastics company is down to 34 employees from 63 a year ago. With the U.S. recession starting to retreat, he would like to add back workers but will likely buy new equipment instead.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York State lawfully seized land needed for the $4 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, the state's highest court ruled on Tuesday.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Allen Stanford, who faces U.S. criminal and civil charges for allegedly leading a $7 billion Ponzi scheme, is suing Lloyd's of London for defense costs.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Stork Craft Manufacturing Inc is voluntarily recalling more than 2.1 million baby cribs in the United States and Canada due to a potential suffocation hazard, U.S. safety officials said on Monday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - When consumer advertising began for the popular blood-thinner Plavix, Medicaid insurance programs for the poor and disabled spent millions more on the drug, even though the ads did not tempt doctors to write more prescriptions, researchers reported on Monday.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The number of air travelers over the Thanksgiving holiday will be down this year, which means shorter lines and fewer airport hassles, but full planes and new fees may keep passengers grumbling.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In a depressed neighborhood in the City of Angels, hundreds of good jobs appeared to fall from the sky last week.

DALLAS (Reuters) - Autumn rains have soaked scorched parts of Texas, heralding the end of the worst drought on record in at least nine counties and bringing relief to the state's withered cattle industry.

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Authorities unsealed terrorism-related charges Monday against eight defendants they said recruited young Somali-American men to return to their homeland to fight for an Islamist militant group.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wealthier Americans are expected to jump right into holiday shopping this week, but unemployed U.S. consumers will sit out the early part of the season, suggesting solid Black Friday results could be deceiving, according to a survey released on Monday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bernard Madoff's bankruptcy trustee and the law firm employing him have asked a U.S. judge to be awarded $22.1 million in fees for five months of work, boosting their combined total bill to more than $37.5 million.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Canadian attorney behind what U.S. prosecutors describe as the largest insider trading scheme in Canadian history was denied entry to the United States and could not be sentenced on Monday.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An Arkansas lawyer who once specialized in securities fraud litigation was sentenced in Manhattan federal court on Monday to 86 months in prison for stealing $9.3 million from clients.

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Union Pacific Corp train derailed Monday, sending 16 carloads of petroleum coke off the tracks and spilling much of the cargo, a UP spokeswoman said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The pandemic of swine flu may be hitting a peak in the Northern Hemisphere, global health officials said on Friday, but they cautioned it was far from over.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Country crossover star Taylor Swift overshadowed the late Michael Jackson at the American Music Awards on Sunday, winning five prizes including artist of the year.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal officials are investigating a radiation leak at Three Mile Island, scene of the worst U.S. nuclear power accident, but said on Sunday there was no threat to public health or safety.

PARIS (Reuters) - Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans expects U.S. unemployment to peak at around 10.5 percent next spring and hopefully easing to about 9.5 percent by end-2010, according to comments published on Monday.