Global stock markets were reeling Monday as U.S. insurance giant AIG revealed a monumental quarterly loss of $62 billion and UK bank HSBC announced a huge slump in profits. AIG's announcement came hours after the U.S. government announced a $30 billion lifeline for the ailing company on top of $150 billion it has already received in bailout funding. In London, the FTSE dropped 4 percent in morning trading to hit six-year lows -- with banking stocks leading the slide. HSBC ...

On a recent afternoon, Pamela Rinchich quietly recalled how her cancer doctor abruptly canceled an appointment. Rinchich owed $268 from a previous visit: She didn't have the money and the doctor refused to see her until she paid. "I offered to do whatever I could, even work in the office to cover it," said Rinchich, with tears in her eyes. Just a few months earlier, life was going great for Rinchich. She was planning a wedding with her fiancé, Jim, ...

A shrill scream from the next bedroom jolted Maria Felix Flores from her sleep shortly after midnight on the muggy, tropical night of Feb. 22. She dashed into the adjoining room to find her adult son, Carlos, and his wife, Maria Josefa, sitting upright in bed with the lights on, panicked by the sight of the blood-drenched sheets. Their feet were sticky and warm with blood, but neither felt any pain and couldn't figure out the source of the gush. ...

The grandmother of a 16-year-old Arizona girl accused of prostitution -- and recruiting and pimping other teen girls -- said Wednesday she hopes to fight the charges in court. "I really want to take it to trial," Linda Tye, grandmother of Tatiana Tye told CNN Radio. "She needs to meet her accusers." Tatiana Tye and a second 16-year-old girl, Jazmine Finley, were indicted earlier this week by a grand jury, Maricopa County, Arizona, prosecutors said in a statement. Although the ...

More than two dozen guests joined first lady Michelle Obama at the president's speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. One person on the first lady's guest list was Leonard Abess Jr., a Miami banker who received a $60 million bonus from the proceeds from the sale of shares of City National Bank in Florida and gave it out to his 399 workers and 72 former workers. During his speech, President Obama said Abess didn't tell anyone about ...

A bank that received $1.6 billion dollars of the government's bailout money sponsored what reports are calling a lavish series of events in Los Angeles, California, last weekend. Northern Trust, based in Chicago, Illinois, spent an undisclosed amount of money sponsoring a Professional Golf Association tournament and associated client events, including concerts, dinners and parties, according to celebrity Web site TMZ.com. The bank spent millions of dollars on the event, which included -- on top of the sponsorship costs of ...

In his first speech to a joint session of Congress, President Obama outlined an ambitious agenda to revive the economy, saying it's time to act boldly "to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity." Obama focused on the three priorities of the budget he will present to Congress later this week: energy, health care and education. The president said he sees his budget as a "vision for America -- as a blueprint for our future," but not something that ...

The Iraqi Interior Ministry on Monday blamed ministry infiltrators for the 2006 killing of the sister of the Sunni vice president. "For a poor man like me, $15,000 is a lot of money," said 91-year-old Celestino Almeda. Still, he said, "After what we have suffered, what we have contributed for the sake of democracy, it's peanuts. It's a drop in the bucket." During the war, the Philippines was a U.S. commonwealth. The U.S. military promised full veterans benefits to Filipinos ...

A few years back, two finance professors at the University of Chicago set out to discover who was behind the spectacular rise in the very top incomes in the U.S. Steven Kaplan and Joshua Rauh quickly concluded that for all the outrage about the pay of corporate chief executives and their lieutenants, it didn't account for more than a sliver of the gains. And highly paid athletes and entertainers were too small in number to have much impact. The ...

Hundreds of thousands of workers filled the streets of Dublin on Saturday to protest the government response to Ireland's economic downturn. But these days, visitors to California's most famous ZIP code are more likely to take note of the empty storefronts and deep-discount signs. Call it recession, 90210 style. Fewer sales have meant fewer tax dollars even for this well-funded city. City officials say they expect tax revenues to drop by about $24 million over the next 16 months. They ...