Three American sex tourists to Cambodia have been arrested and are being returned to the United States for trial, Fox News reported on August 31.

While the Fed fights efforts to air its dirty laundry, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has had his own personal bank account information compromised by an identity-theft ring, AP wrote on August 27. Watch the video below for the story in brief:

Taser International demonstrated its new Taser X3 on July 27 at the company’s annual conference for law enforcement personnel. According to a July 28 Fox News story, Taser International Chairman Tom Smith and CEO Rick Smith, Tom’s brother, showed off the stun gun’s ability to fire three times without reloading.

Gold has recently topped the $1,200 per ounce mark, but analyst David Rosenberg sees it going as high as $2,623 per ounce in the not-to-distant future if Communist China follows through on its plans to begin stockpiling the precious metal.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced on December 21 that beginning this spring the federal government is going to impose hefty fines on airlines that keep passengers stranded on the tarmac without food, water, or letting them get off the plane. LaHood called this “President Obama's Passenger Bill of Rights.”

Ford Motor Company disclosed on December 21 that it is offering to buy out 41,000 United Auto Workers (UAW) union members with early retirement deals as the company attempts to reduce payroll costs and return to profitability by 2011.

The Federal Reserve decided on December 16 to keep interest rates at historic lows near zero percent. The Fed released a statement declaring that even though there are signs of improvement, economic conditions “are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period.”

New claims for unemployment benefits rose more than analysts expected last week, while an unexpected narrowing in the trade gap in October provided some indication that the U.S. economy is steadily growing.

General Motors has received $50 billion in taxpayer assistance, yet even as the company cuts thousands of jobs at U.S. locations, it is considering investing billions of those taxpayer dollars on overseas operations. GM maintains that only through a strong international presence can it remain competitive and profitable, but critics say that the taxpayer money was meant to preserve U.S. jobs.

Thanks to how the Internal Revenue Service implemented President Barack Obama’s tax break last spring, more than 15 million taxpayers may owe the government either $250 or $400 more for their 2009 income tax. The tax break has decreased the amount of tax withheld for 95 percent of working families, but millions will find that they need to pay back the government for not withholding enough.