WASHINGTON — Builders stepped up home construction in May and applied for permits to build single-family homes at the fastest pace in five years. The gains show housing remained a crucial source of growth for the economy. The overall pace of homes started rose 6.8 percent in May to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of [...]
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service is about to pay $ 70 million in employee bonuses despite an Obama administration directive to cancel discretionary bonuses because of automatic spending cuts enacted this year, according to a GOP senator. Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa says his office has learned that the IRS is executing an [...]
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RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — The Palestinian president and his Fatah movement on Wednesday signaled a tough line on talks with Israel, casting new doubt on U.S. efforts to revive long-stalled negotiations. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected in the region next week, his fifth attempt this year to bridge wide gaps between [...]
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By Deborah Zabarenko WASHINGTON (Reuters) – NASA called on backyard astronomers and other citizen-scientists on Tuesday to help track asteroids that could create havoc on Earth. The U.S. space agency has already identified 95 percent of the potentially planet-killing NEOs – near Earth objects – with a diameter of .62 miles or more, a size [...]
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Government officials have missed several deadlines in setting up new health-insurance exchanges for small businesses and consumers—a key part of the federal health overhaul—and there is a risk they won’t be ready to open on time in October, Congress’s watchdog arm said. The Government Accountability Office said federal and state health officials still have major [...]
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TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — If doctors and patients used prescription drugs more wisely, they could save the U.S. health care system at least $ 213 billion a year, by reducing medication overuse, underuse and other flaws in care that cause complications and longer, more-expensive treatments, researchers conclude. The new findings by the IMS Institute for [...]
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By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks dipped modestly at the open on Wednesday, but held on to most of their gains over the last two days, ahead of a highly anticipated Federal Reserve statement and news conference. The Fed will release a policy statement at 2:00 p.m. EDT, which will be followed soon [...]
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These 12 metro areas experienced the largest percentage increases in home prices among cities with populations of more than 250,000 for the year ending March 31. Prices come from Clear Capital, a provider of real estate data and analytics. The spike in home prices in these cities was driven primarily by demand from investors, who [...]
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Shareholders of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored enterprises bailed out by the government, have some hubris. Like some shareholders of the American International Group, the Fannie and Freddie shareholders have stooped to lawsuits as a way of trying to garner millions from the same government that rescued the entities. As was the [...]
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By William Schomberg and Jeff Mason ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland (Reuters) – The world’s rich economies said they would take a tougher stance on fighting money laundering and tax evasion but promised little in the way of specific new action at the end of a two-day summit on Tuesday. Group of Eight leaders signed up for [...]
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