UNITED STATES

Affordability has been a major concern as home prices in some markets more than doubled earlier in the decade. After a period in the 1990s of great affordability when mortgage costs were between 20 and 35 percent of household income for most U.S. markets

Switzerland will start negotiations with the United States over its existing double-taxation treaty at the end of April, the Swiss ambassador to the United States told Swiss television late on Friday.

Several major banks face exposure to automaker Chrysler LLC, which may need to file for bankruptcy if it doesn’t come through with a plan that will convince the U.S. government to lend it additional funds to stay afloat.

The New York Times Co has threatened to shut The Boston Globe unless the newspaper's unions quickly agree to $20 million in concessions, the Globe reported on Friday, quoting union leaders.

The U.S. and Mexico are launching a new program to monitoring vehicles between borders of the two countries. They are also creating a cross-border group to develop strategies for stopping the smuggled guns and drugs, officials said Thursday.

U.S. banks that received billions of dollars of taxpayer money to bolster their capital could place bets on the same toxic assets that got them into trouble in the first place -- and with government support.

U.S. automaker General Motors Corp will move quickly into bankruptcy if necessary, chief executive Fritz Henderson said in an interview with the Financial Times newspaper published on Friday.

Mexico's economy, already in recession, is being dragged even lower by a brutal drug war that is frightening off some investors and hurting the Mexican currency.

Chrysler LLC's lenders are in talks with the U.S. government to reduce the automaker's debt by swapping some of it out for equity, new debt or a lesser amount in cash, sources familiar with the talks said on Friday.

North Korea made the final preparations to launch a multistage rocket today, raising international tensions and sending worries through its nearest neighbor, Japan.

Chrysler LLC's lenders are in talks with the U.S. government to reduce the automaker's debt by swapping some of it out for equity, new debt or a lesser amount in cash, sources familiar with the talks said on Friday.

From cheering fans lining the streets to an adoring crowd packed into a sports arena, Obama-mania was in full swing in Europe on Friday.

President Obama said on the eve of a NATO summit meeting that U.S. needs to renew its partnership with Europe to boost up the NATO alliance.

A judge extended a temporary freeze on the assets of Peter Madoff, brother of jailed swindler Bernard Madoff, on Friday, but agreed that he could have $10,000 a month in expenses.

President Barack Obama's pledge to boost IMF resources to help other crisis-hit economies could prove a tough sell for a Congress suffering from bailout fatigue and worried about mounting U.S. debt.

The U.S. unemployment rate soared to 8.5 percent last month, a 25-year high, as employers slashed jobs and cut workers' hours to the lowest level on record, the government said on Friday.

Tennessee Valley Authority, the largest public utility company in the U.S., agreed Thursday to buy up to 2,000 megawatts of electricity from renewable energy sources by 2011.

Top Federal Reserve officials pledged on Friday to use all the tools at their disposal to spur lending and a U.S. economic recovery, but warned a rebound could be slow in coming.

Oil prices settled above $52 a barrel on Friday, slightly lower on the day after a report that U.S. unemployment in March soared to a 25-year high.

Microsoft's Virtual Earth has released the Virtual Earth Silverlight Map Control community technology preview (CTP) which supports video, animation, and vector graphics.

Ritz Camera Centers Inc has announced that it will close over 300 stores or 40% of its total stores in a court-supervised bankruptcy reorganization.