So much for silence from telemarketers at the cherished dinner hour, or any other hour of the day.

Chinese are trying to hurt Japan economically for leverage in a bitter dispute over contested islands, turning to angry protests and calls for boycotts of Japanese businesses, abetted in part by China's government.

Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- The Institute of International Finance warned that the European Central Bank’s plan to buy sovereign bonds may result in a “cliff effect” if a country fails to meet conditions tied to the purchases.

Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp. today declined to comment on media reports it’s near agreement to invest in Olympus Corp., the Japanese endoscope maker that admitted to accounting fraud last year.

Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- “Resident Evil: Retribution,” the fifth installment in the zombie-invasion franchise, made its debut as the top film at U.S. and Canadian theaters with $21.1 million in sales for Sony Corp.

Economic growth is pitiful. Unemployment has topped 8 percent for an exhausting 43 months. The nation is careering toward a so-called fiscal cliff, and maybe a recession.

Occupy Wall Street began to disintegrate in rapid fashion last winter, when the weekly meetings in New York City devolved into a spectacle of fistfights and vicious arguments.

An Afghan police officer turned his gun on NATO troops at a remote checkpoint in the south of the country before dawn Sunday, killing four American troops, according to Afghan and international officials.

The Islamic Council of Niger asks Muslims not to attack Christian churches to protest the recent film on the Prophet Muhammad.

Hundreds of Pakistanis protesting an anti-Islam video broke through a barricade near the U.S. Consulate in the southern city of Karachi on Sunday, sparking clashes with police in which one demonstrator was killed and more than a dozen injured.

The Paris prosecutor's office opened an investigation Sunday regarding a protest around the American Embassy that drew hundreds of people angry over of a film produced in the United States that insults the Prophet Muhammad.

Media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, testing the waters for a possible return to the Italian premier's office, is lashing out at successor Mario Monti for imposing higher taxes while battling Italy's financial crisis.