UNITED STATES

U.S. consumer confidence in January hit its highest level in nearly a year and a half, but a closely watched housing index showed an unexpected decline in November home prices, giving a mixed picture of the economic recovery.

The US space agency NASA has conceded defeat in its battle to free the Spirit rover from its Martian sand trap.

Despite the best intentions of the international community, Haitians have little faith they will see the billions of dollars in aid pledged to rebuild their earthquake-shattered country, which international monitors rate as one of the world's most corrupt.

The U.S. budget deficit will remain at levels not seen since World War Two, congressional experts said on Tuesday in a report that lays out the stark challenge facing President Barack Obama as he seeks to create jobs and cut spending at the same time.

U.S. retail sales should rise 2.5 percent this year, signaling that store chains have made it through the worst of the downturn as improvements in the housing and job markets bolster shoppers' confidence, a trade group forecast on Tuesday.

The U.S. economic recession has taken a particularly heavy toll on young Americans, with a record one out five black men aged 20 to 24 neither working nor in school, according to research released on Tuesday.

U.S. bookseller Borders Group Inc said on Tuesday that Chief Executive Ron Marshall has resigned and will be replaced on an interim basis by the head of its marketing and merchandising teams.

New York City will have to lay off more than 10,000 public workers, in addition to 8,500 teachers, if the state legislature approves the $1.3 billion of cuts the governor proposed in his deficit-closing budget, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Monday.

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as consumer confidence data bolstered views the economy's recovery is on track and results from Travelers Cos and Apple Inc strengthened the fourth-quarter earnings picture.

Verizon Communications Inc said it is facing a slower-than-expected economic recovery and plans to cut 6 percent of its workforce, adding that it forecasts only a modest rebound in late 2010.

U.S. manufacturers face another tough year in 2010 after spending much of 2009 shrinking their businesses to cope with their worst slump in decades.

According to a CNN poll released yesterday, almost 3 out of every 4 Americans think at least half of the money in last years $787 billion stimulus bill is being wasted.

Home prices slipped in November and were softer than expected in the latest sign that a rebound in the U.S. housing market is still tenuous, according to Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller indexes on Tuesday.

Verizon Communications Inc reported stronger-than-expected mobile customer growth thanks to wholesale partners like America Movil's Tracfone, but its fixed-line business disappointed investors.

U.S. stocks edged higher on Tuesday, as better-than-expected consumer confidence data and strong quarterly results from Travelers and Apple offset concerns about a Chinese government clampdown on bank lending.

Afghanistan's neighbours met in Turkey on Tuesday seeking a single voice before a London conference to set a timetable for handing security over to Afghans and find ways to negotiate peace with the Taliban.

The overall teen pregnancy rate was up 3 percent in 2006, with a 4 percent rise in the rate of births and a 1 percent rise in the rate of abortions, according to the report by the Guttmacher Institute.

Consumer confidence in January hit its highest level since September 2008 in data published on Tuesday, but another report showed house prices beginning to slip again after stabilizing last year.

General Motors Co said on Tuesday it will set up a $246 million facility backed by funding from the U.S. government to build electric motors to power future hybrids and possibly pure electric vehicles.

The pilot of an Ethiopian airliner that crashed off the Lebanese coast did not respond to a request to change direction before contact was cut, the Lebanese transport minister said on Tuesday.

President Barack Obama on Monday said Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has his strongest support and is doing a good job.