Politics News

Home sales, showing new signs of life two years after the credit crunch drove down home prices, must gain more ground before policy makers can “declare victory,” Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said.

President Barack Obama may include a permanent extension of the research and development tax credit among the tax breaks for businesses he is contemplating to spur job growth, two congressional aides said.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to resume peace talks in two weeks even as a dispute over West Bank settlement building threatens to undercut the effort.