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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Volatile markets have saddled U.S. companies with a $409 billion deficit on pension plans, reversing a $60 billion surplus a year earlier, and will cut into earnings in 2009, consulting firm Mercer said. As of December 31, pension plans among members of the Standard & Poor's 1500 had $1.21 trillion of assets and $1.62 trillion of liabilities, Mercer said in a report released on Wednesday. At the end of 2007, pension plan assets totaled $1.66 trillion and liabilities totaled about $1.6 trillion, Mercer said. The S&P 1500 is a broad portfolio representing large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap...

For a movie called "The Happening" not much happens. M. Night Shyamalan effectively delivers the usual broody air of foreboding that has been a trademark of his hits ("The Sixth Sense" and "Signs") and misses ("Lady in the Water" and "Unbreakable"). And this fear-mongering story of an airborne toxin that causes victims to snuff themselves in nasty ways shoving hairpins into their throats, hurling themselves en masse off a high rise, the like induces plenty of seat-squirming. The shock value wears off quickly, though, and writer-director Shyamalan strands us (along with Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel) in an ultimately boring...

Muslim countries warned Friday of strong reactions to an anti-Islam film posted on the Internet by far-right Dutch deputy Geert Wilders, though initial reactions in the Netherlands were calm. Wilders posted his film "Fitna", featuring violent imagery of terror attacks in New York and Madrid intertwined with Koranic texts, on the Internet on Thursday. A handful of Muslim countries had responded early Friday, with Iran saying the short movie showed some Westerners were waging a "vendetta" against Islam, and warning of unspecified repercussions. Bangladesh also said the film could have "grave consequences", while a coalition of Jordanian media said it...

MADRID (Reuters) - Islamist extremists were planning attacks across Europe, especially against public transport, before their arrests in Barcelona last weekend, a Spanish paper reported on Saturday, citing a would-be attacker's testimony. The Al Qaeda-inspired cell planned to attack the Barcelona metro and other targets in Spain, Germany, France, Portugal and the United Kingdom, said the bomber turned police informant. In testimony that led to the arrest of 14 South Asians last Saturday, the informant told police the group had a preference for attacks on public transport, especially metro systems, El Pais newspaper reported. "If we attack the metro, the...

SALEM, N.H. - Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign stop was interrupted Monday when two men stood in the crowd and began screaming, "Iron my shirt!" during one of her final appearances before the New Hampshire primary. Clinton, a former first lady running to become the nation's first female president, laughed at the seemingly sexist protest that suggested a woman's place is doing the laundry and not running the country. "Ah, the remnants of sexism — alive and well," Clinton said to applause in a school auditorium. The two men were removed from the hall after raising a pair of signs that...

Missile detection system unveiled Associated Press INGLESIDE, Texas — Military officials offered a peak at a new missile-detecting radar system some have labeled “Son of Star Wars.” Army officers and contractors unveiled the Sea-based X-band Radar Tuesday amid doubts of its launch capabilities. The system, which is mounted on a semi-submersible oil-drilling rig, is designed to protect the country against incoming warheads. It looks almost space age with its giant white sphere, which protects an advanced radar that can track a missile across the horizon. The radar provides the information needed to remotely launch U.S. missiles at incoming warheads. At...

BEIRUT, Lebanon - The United Nations (news - web sites) should find ways to demonstrate political independence, regain the neutrality it lost after the Sept. 11 attacks and better communicate with the world's 1 billion Muslims, a top U.N. official said Monday. Mark Malloch Brown, administrator of the U.N. Development Program, also said the Arab region, compared with other parts of the world, is stagnating and governments need to reform if they want to compete in the global economy. Malloch Brown was on an official trip to Lebanon, where he met with President Emile Lahoud on Monday. Malloch Brown said...

WASHINGTON - A pro-Democratic group that opposes President Bush (news - web sites) in its fund-raising solicitations is the target of a complaint by campaign finance watchdogs who argue the organization is spending illegally on its mailings. America Coming Together should be using limited "hard money" donations, not unlimited contributions known as soft money, to pay for the fund-raising letters, the three groups said in the complaint filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission (news - web sites). The groups are Democracy 21, the Center for Responsive Politics and the Campaign Legal Center. ACT has financed the mailings — possibly...