Japan's SoftBank and Deutsche Telekom of Germany have reached a basic agreement for a merger between their US affiliates Sprint and T-Mobile US, the business daily Nikkei reported Saturday. Eight financial institutions, including Japan's top three megabanks Mizuho, Mitsubishi UFJ and Sumitomo Mitsui, will provide a credit line of around four trillion yen ($39 billion) for SoftBank's purchase of T-Mobile through Sprint, according to the report.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Tracy Morgan has sued Wal-Mart over last month's highway crash that seriously injured him and killed a fellow comedian.

Nothing rallies US grassroots donors quite like a political affront, and Democrats facing a wave of Republican threats are cashing in on the negativity at the height of the 2014 election cycle. Democratic campaign organizers in Washington have seized on major political assaults by Republicans -- including a demand for President Barack Obama's impeachment by Tea Party heroine Sarah Palin -- to sweep millions of dollars into their coffers and sign up thousands of new likely voters. Despite Obama's approval rating being in the cellar, and the odds of Republicans taking back the Senate in an off-year election reaching 50-50, the Democratic Party has been the beneficiary of a flood of campaign funds not seen since Republicans were blamed for shutting down the government in October. "Republican overreach continues to be a huge motivating factor for our grassroots," Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) spokesman Josh Schwerin told AFP.