USA

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn appealed the US, Britain and other countries to cooperate on new policies and regulations in the wake of the financial crisis.

As he claimed at the annual Herziliya Conference, at the onset of the crisis, world leaders were "scared" and agreed to work together to cancel out the crisis. However, at present, countries are formulating policies on their own.

Verizon and AT&T extended price war, that commenced with smaller carriers like Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA and Sprint Nextel unit Boost Mobile, cutting their cost plans rates on Friday.

Verizon Wireless, the biggest US mobile operator, unveiled its intention to cut prices by 30% for voice customers. It was followed by similar price cuts from its main rival, AT&T Inc.

Financial crisis, affected the world community, caused the growth of many national economies’ external debt as the necessity to turn to their government and foreign lenders for getting financial support arises. Thus, countries’ economies have to face with increased spending, borrowing and in most cases, growing national debt. 

 Deficit spending, government debt and private sector borrowing are the norm in most western countries, but due in part to the financial crisis, some nations and economies are in considerably worse debt positions than others.

The survey conducted among 200 retailers in Canada, Scotland, Japan, Spain and France, that listed 15 of the world's top eco-friendly vendors, found the best environmental practices in a move to help the industry in adopting sustainable practices that can also enhance their bottom line.

 The researchers found Mountain Equipment Co-op, IKEA Canada, Walmart and Home Depot were among the list of the leading green companies in Canada.

On the heels of reports that credit companies are in a rush to raise interest rates to historic highs and implement new fees before regulation that limits such action takes effect, Consumers for Competitive Choice (C4CC), a diverse, national coalition of Americans including consumers and small businesses who support a consumer-focused economy, has just released a study titled, “The Credit Card Con,” which examines the industry’s notoriously bad acts.

 The Legatum Institute, an independent policy, advocacy and advisory organization, published on Tuesday its 2009 Legatum Prosperity Index which ranked 104 countries according to the economic prosperity and basic human freedoms. Thus, the best country in the list where people can enjoy freedom of expression as much as health, wealth, and prosperity was Finland.

Mobile Money Ventures (MMV) Thursday unveiled it has deployed the first mobile US stock trading feature in Hong Kong in collaboration with Citibank.

 Last October these two companies started rolling it out on the successful mobile platform, providing Citibank`s customers in Hong Kong with the ability to trade on both the Hong Kong and American markets, including the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. 

 A new nationwide survey released today by Citi revealed that women across all economic sectors believe that their personal financial situations have deteriorated over the past year and that the majority (65 percent) have permanently changed their spending and saving habits in response to the recession. According to the data, key findings include: 

 Despite some signs that the worst of the U.S. residential housing crisis may be over, many wealthy homeowners are still being squeezed by the combination of weak home prices and the stock market crash.

"I think for wealthy homeowners it will get worse before it gets better," said Dennis Hedlund, founder of iEmergent, a forecaster for mortgage and real estate companies.

 According to Mintel Comperemedia’s study results, about 75% of adults are planning to come back to school this fall, aiming to increase their financial know-how in terms of the current economic recession.

Meantime, 32% have already done this, while 43% intends to learn more about financial topics in the future.

Several US stores can now boost by having the newest gadget-recycling ATM, Eco ATM, that squeaks usable credit for local shops in return for any unwanted tech. 

 The first Eco ATM was installed in a furniture store in Nebraska last month and, although it currently only accepts mobile phones, Nevertheless, the company behind the unit said the ATM can also support a wider variety of gadgets.

 Internet advertising in the United States slipped 5 percent in the second quarter as the recession extended the first slump in online marketing since 2002.

The $5.4 billion spent on Internet ads during the three months ending in June compared with $5.7 billion at the same time last year, according to data released Monday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Google announced about its partnership with privately held Energy Inc, as a move to supply households with free energy management software, bypassing utilities' smart meters and potentially bolstering energy efficiency.

  Energy Inc and Google alliance is intended to expand the consumer market. While more and more utilities are moving to install smart meters, they still account for a small percentage of all US electricity meters.

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) inspector general is tracing a potential data breach affecting 70 million records of US military veterans.

 The investigation includes a defective hard drive the agency sent back to its vendor for repair without first destroying the data. Once the drive was diagnosed and found to be faulty, it was sent out for recycling, with millions of records still stored on it.

 When Janice Barnwell decided to boost her career by obtaining a master's degree in business, the working mother chose an online university because of the convenience and the low cost.

The 44-year-old's educational experience exceeded her expectations, and her new employer paid for her to take four more courses online to sharpen her skills.