Richard C. Holbrooke, the hard-charging diplomat who brokered peace in the Balkans and then took on an even tougher task as the Obama administration's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, died Monday night at age 69.

In his latest effort to downplay the impact of the WikiLeaks revelations of sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables, President Barack Obama stressed on Monday that building partnerships of "mutual interest and mutual respect" remains a fundamental cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy.

The first judicial ruling against a key part of President Obama's landmark health care law has boosted efforts by opponents who want it repealed, stripped of funding or struck down by the Supreme Court, a battle that could take years.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday called respectively Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to underscore bilateral relations following the embarrassing revelations by the whistle- blower website WikiLeaks.

The European Union summit is to propose changes to the bloc's rules which would allow for the creation of a permanent eurozone bailout system, but only on tough conditions and without triggering referenda in EU states, draft documents showed Monday.

The US government intends to sell at least $15 billion of its shares in bailed-out AIG in the New Year.

Hispanics are now the largest ethnic minority in the United States and during the past decade, U.S. Hispanic purchasing power has rapidly increased. This report takes an in depth look at how today's Hispanic Economy is transitioning into an economic power in the U.S. Click here for the executive summary and table of contents!

The number of Hispanic-owned businesses in the United States is expected to grow 41.8 percent in the next six years to 4.3 million, with total revenues surging 39 percent to more than $539 billion, according to new estimates by HispanTelligence. Spurred by growing entrepreneurial trends and affluence among the nation's largest minority population, the increase is expected to come at a robust rate of 8.5 and 8.7 percent, respectfully, over the next couple years.

The diversity that we have represents the growth of our business ... we're very proud of that," says Pat Harris, vice president and global chief diversity officer at McDonald's.

Diversity and inclusion programs are proving to have a much broader effect than once thought. "There's no doubt in my mind (spending with minority-owned businesses) has a positive net effect on local economies," says Joyce Ibardolasa, director of diversity and inclusion, PG&E.