NEW YORK - April 14, 2009 - Retail sales suffered an unexpected big decline in March, which broke two straight months of improving sales, the government reported Tuesday.

RALEIGH, North Carolina - April 13, 2009 - The number of U.S. businesses and individuals declaring bankruptcy is rising with a vengeance amid the Depression, despite a three-year-old federal law that made it much tougher for Amerikans to escape their debts, an Associated Press analysis found.

NEW YORK - April 13, 2009 - Hotels have been struggling for months as businesses and individuals cut back on travel. But what was a bad situation is likely to turn worse as a rapidly growing number of hotels - including many high-end and luxury properties - are forced into bankruptcy or foreclosure in coming months.

LONDON, England - April 12, 2009 - HSBC faces a meltdown at its U.S. credit card operations where around $50bn (£34bn) has been lent to people with poor credit histories, say analysts.

WASHINGTON - April 11, 2009 - One in nine homes in the United States is vacant, an unprecedented number weighing on the nation's real estate market, industry experts say.

NEW YORK - April 6, 2009 - Measuring unemployment is an art that can result in widely varied rates. Not surprisingly, the U.S. government uses a method that excludes millions of Amerikans seeking employment. This lower rate is used to prove that Amerika’s economic system is superior to those in Europe. Their higher unemployment rates are blamed on unions and socialism, which guarantee workers health care and paid vacations. The implication is that while many Amerikan workers lack such benefits, at least they have jobs. This argument is faulty because unemployment here is measured differently than in Europe.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - April 9, 2009 - Fiat staff in Brussels closeted local managers inside their office for several hours in another apparent "boss-napping" linked to worker anger over job cuts in Europe.