Skyrocketing energy prices are inflating the costs of living on the distant edges of metropolitan areas.

A bill aimed at helping homeowners in danger of foreclosure cleared a vote in the Senate, raising the prospects for final passage of the aid bill by mid-summer.

Negotiators for pilots at Delta and Northwest said they had a tentative agreement with Delta management on a joint contract to cover both pilot groups when the companies combine this year.

Raffaello Follieri, 29, the former boyfriend of the actress Anne Hathaway, was arrested on charges of operating a fraudulent real estate scheme that he claimed was linked to the Vatican.

Nokia said that it would make the software that runs its phones available to outside developers, as the company tries to head off competition and stimulate the use of mobile music, video and e-mail.

Lawyers suing the makers of the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas edition say they are shocked so few who bought the video game were offended by sex scenes buried in its software.

In a move hailed by environmental groups, the state has struck a tentative deal to buy U.S. Sugar and allow 187,000 acres to return to a natural state.

A bill aimed at helping of homeowners in danger of foreclosure cleared an important test vote in the Senate.

A consumer confidence survey recorded its worst reading in 16 years, and home prices in April suffered their worst annual declines in two decades.

Nokia is buying the consortium that makes the software for its phones and making it available for free to other manufacturers, in hopes of blunting the influence of competing software providers.