NEW YORK – Clothing retailer J. Crew Group Inc. said Tuesday that it has settled a shareholder lawsuit challenging its proposed $3 billion takeover by private equity firms TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners LP.As part of the settlement, J. Crew said in a statement that on Tuesday it extended until Feb. 15 the…

TAIPEI, Taiwan – Paper-thin speakers blare pop music. Three-D films appear on elongated screens with no need for special viewing glasses. Viewers' pulses turn cocoons into butterflies in an interactive display.Welcome to the Pavilion of Dreams, a high-tech enclave within the Taipei International Flora Exposition, where Taiwanese artists and engineers are using technology-generated flowers and…

TRENTON, N.J. – St. Louis overtook Camden, N.J., as the nation's most dangerous city in 2009, according to a national study released Sunday.The study by CQ Press found St. Louis had 2,070.1 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, compared with a national average of 429.4. That helped St. Louis beat out Camden, which topped last year's…

As Democrats attempt to position H.R.6419, theEmergency Unemployment Compensation Continuation Act, for another vote in the House of Representatives, where it failed to pass on Thursday, there remains the problem of passage in the U. S. Senate, which has no vote scheduled on the unemployment benefits extension issue.Two senators, Jack Reed (D-RI) andRobert Casey (D-PA),…

C-SPAN's Brian Lamb couldn't convince Newt Gingrich to let the network install cameras in Congress. Or Nancy Pelosi. Now he's working on John Boehner, the presumptive speaker of the House for the 112th Congress.Lamb, the network's founder and chief executive, has longfloor debates as the network sees fit, with its own cameras capturing reaction shots…

Buffalo finally has a win. To get it, the Bills had to extend a record losing streak by their opponent.Dallas has its second win, and the first for Jason Garrett as an NFL head coach.San Francisco got its third victory of the season and, yes, might be climbing into contention in the NFC West.After three…

NEW YORK – In a turn to a story that seems to have been tailor-made to relieve the late summer news doldrums, the courier who claimed to have lost a $1.35 million Corot painting while on a drunken bender at a New York hotel now appears to have been in the employ of a serial…

Lady Saw, "My Way" (Toasting Music/Diva Records)Manicure, check. Makeup, check. Diva attitude, check.It's all about being on point for Lady Saw, who spits with a sharp tongue on her latest album.The Grammy-winning reggae singer merges all the emotional distresses of womanhood into an uplifting dance mix on her CD "My Way."The lead track, "Party Till…

At a special event this morning, Apple unveiled a whole new line of iPods (new shuffles, nanos, and a powerful iPod touch), iTunes 10 with a built-in “Ping” social network, announced iOS 4.1 and teases iOs 4.2...and revealed a new $99 AppleTV with Netflix support and $0.99 television show rentals through iTunes.New iPodsDuring the event,…

NAIROBI (AFP) – FIFA's ambitious project to construct youth centres as a lasting legacy to hosting the first World Cup in Africa continued with the opening of the second Football for Hope Centre in Nairobi on Saturday.The centre, which boasts an artifical football pitch and an educational and health training facilities is located within the…