IBT Staff Reporter

Getting a mortgage loan these days can be a slow and frustrating experience.

Michael Jackson's family and close friends held a private service at a Los Angeles cemetery on Tuesday as fans crowded into the city's downtown area for a star-packed public memorial to the King of Pop.

Soaring U.S. unemployment and a shrinking economy drove delinquencies on credit card debt and home equity loans to all-time highs in the first quarter as a record number of cash-strapped consumers fell behind on their bills.

The U.S. office market vacancy rate reached 15.9 percent in the second quarter, the highest level in four years, and rent fell by the largest amount in more than seven years as demand remained weak, according to a leading real estate research firm.

America's high-end neighborhoods could feel the pain as homes linger on the market and prices slide.

Boeing Co , the world's second-largest plane maker, said on Tuesday it will pay $580 million for a plant that makes part of the fuselage of its long-delayed 787 Dreamliner.

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday as talk of a second government stimulus plan stirred fears that the economy is nowhere near recovery, raising the specter of an anemic second-quarter earnings season.

Michael Jackson's golden casket will be transported to his public memorial service held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Chinese are venting their anger online after ethnic violence in the Muslim region of Xinjiang left at least 156 dead but are playing a cat-and-mouse game with censors who appear to be removing some posts and blogs.

Credid Card Mess; Senate's Climate Debate; Auto Shakeout Spreads

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have successfully devised a way to guess a person's Social Security number using statistical analysis. Armed with your date of birth and the state in which you were born, it's now possible to generate a quite small set of digits that are likely to contain your actual SSN.

President Barack Obama appealed to the Russian people on Tuesday to join the United States in overcoming past differences and building a prosperous democratic future free of corruption and the threat of nuclear war.

Thousands of angry Han Chinese, many of them armed and seeking vengeance for deaths in rioting two days earlier, surged through the capital of the northwestern region of Xinjiang on Tuesday looking for Uighur targets.

The U.S. Senate began debating the climate bill on Tuesday with hearings from three high-ranking officials. General Motors is on track to launch a plug-in sport-utility vehicle.

The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee began debating the climate bill on Tuesday with hearings from four high-ranking officials, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson.

Plunk! A silver splash breaks the taut skin of the water just upstream of the grey boulder where the rapid enters the calm womb of the turquoise pool. With slow turns of the handle I begin to reel in my lure; gently easing it as close to the boulder as possible.

Oil fell 2 percent to below $63 a barrel on Tuesday, pressured by investors' caution over prospects for economic recovery and an expected increase in U.S. gasoline stocks in the heart of driving season.

U.S. credit card delinquencies reach all-time high Consumers are increasingly failing to meet credit card payments as they battle high unemployment rates and a shrinking economy which has left many cash strapped. Delinquencies on the value of all card debt soared to a record 6.60 percent from 5.52 percent in the fourth quarter.

Before deciding whether or not we want to retire to Margaritaville, we must ask, where in the world is Margaritaville? Where exactly was Jimmy Buffett when he got wasted away, searchin' for his lost shaker of salt?

Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Talk were all stripped of their beta tags on Tuesday as Google upgraded the pieces of its Google Apps Premier Edition (GAPE) suite to the status of a finished product.

Auto Shakeout Spreads, Boeing tries to speed 787 program, GM seeks to reject some dealers

Dell Inc, the world's second-biggest maker of personal computers, launched a package of hardware, software and services on Tuesday designed to help police convict more criminals as digital evidence proliferates.

Sony Corp said on Tuesday it plans to launch a new Vaio laptop that will sell for around 60,000 yen ($629) in Japan in August, making an entry into the fast-growing netbook market.

Is white-water rafting no longer a rush? Been there, done that with bungee jumping? If standard travel activities like hiking, surfing, diving and zip-lining are leaving you cold, check out these unique, crazy, and sometimes downright dangerous adventure sports around the world.

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday as investors turned cautious ahead of earnings season, and talk of a second stimulus package underscored worries about the U.S. economic recovery.

There's a story that's been handed down for years from one backpacker to another as they parley in guesthouse lobbies throughout Thailand.

Only 17,500 tickets were up for grabs for the Michael Jackson memorial leaving over a million fans ticketless but they are still able to watch the event live at their local movie theaters.

Dutch Bank ABN Amro is in talks to sublease all of its space at the 7 World Trade Center building in New York, the New York Post said on Tuesday, citing sources.

Below follows the full transcript of U.S. President Barack Obama's speech to the New Economic School in Moscow, as released by the White House.