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Despite record U.S. home price affordability, international buyers have been unable to take advantage because of the worldwide recession and credit crunch, a real estate group said Tuesday.
Home sales to foreign clients dropped 9.4% in the year ended in May to 154,000, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
Among international […]

Eli Lilly and Co. will cut 5,500 jobs as part of a restructuring plan to save $1 billion, the drugmaker said Monday.
The job cuts will be complete by 2011, according to a press release. Eli Lilly (LLY, Fortune 500), based in Indianapolis, currently employs 40,500 people.
At 10:45 a.m. ET on Monday, Lilly was up […]

General Motors Co. has ended temporary pay cuts for salaried workers that were put in place four months ago to preserve cash before the automaker filed for bankruptcy, a spokeswoman said.
GM salaried workers were notified of the step by email Friday after the action was reviewed by the automaker’s board of directors earlier this […]

Efforts by private equity firms to sell stakes in portfolio companies through initial public offerings continued late this week as two North American companies took steps toward coming to market.
Talecris Biotherapeutics Holdings Corp, controlled by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP CBS.UL, on Friday set terms for its planned $849.3 million IPO, signaling […]

The Obama administration on Friday stepped up its efforts to curb environmental damage from surface coal mining, announcing plans to give 79 permit applications in four states additional scrutiny.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it wants to make certain the proposed mines won’t cause water pollution and violate the Clean Water Act […]

Bank of America and regulators once again urged a federal judge to uphold a $33 million settlement tied to the disclosure of Merrill Lynch bonuses.
In two separate court filings made Wednesday, both the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission defended the proposed settlement the pair struck in early August.
The settlement […]

The negotiations over health reform are kicking into high gear. And one of the top issues is whether to make insurance companies pay for some of it.
President Obama in his joint address to Congress Wednesday said that he supports the idea as a way to help fund the cost of reform — which, depending […]

The White House on Monday released the text of a controversial back-to-school speech to students from President Barack Obama.
Many conservatives have expressed a fear that the address would be used to push a partisan political agenda. In the text of the speech, however, Obama completely avoids any mention of controversial political initiatives.
He […]

We are always reinventing ourselves. In the beginning, when we are very new, we reach for gravity, adopting silly pinstripes and tight shoes.
Later on, when youth is but a memory, we start dressing like hipsters. Some of us don’t even shave, we’re so youthful, even though the beard that comes in is chased […]

Gold held broadly steady on Monday just shy of $995 per ounce, consolidating stellar gains last week that took it tantalizingly close to the $1,000 psychological level, with buyers encouraged by dollar weakness.
Silver took support from gold’s strength and gains in benchmark base metal copper, hitting a high of $16.34 an ounce, its firmest […]