Existing home sales rise to fastest pace in three years

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Home resales rose sharply in November to their fastest pace in three years, a sign the recovery in the housing market is gaining steam. The National Association of Realtors said on Thursday that existing home sales climbed 5.9 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million units. That was the fastest since November 2009,...

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New York City should hike taxes on big business-comptroller

(Reuters) - New York City's top financial officer and possible contender for mayor in 2013, John Liu, proposed on Thursday tax hikes for big businesses and an end to Madison Square Garden's $15 million annual property tax exemption.The proposals by New York City Comptroller John Liu include tax hikes on private equity firms, which would help offset his plan for $500 million in tax breaks and lowered...

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Republicans push own "fiscal cliff" plan; talks frozen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the Congress pushed ahead on Thursday with a "fiscal cliff" plan that stands no chance of becoming law as time runs short to reach a deal with President Barack Obama to avert a Washington-induced economic recession.House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner's "Plan B" to limit income-tax increases to the wealthiest sliver of the population appeared likely to...

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Canada's seven-month budget gap narrows to C$10.6 billion

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's federal budget deficit narrowed in the first seven months of the fiscal year to C$10.57 billion ($10.68 billion) from C$13.90 billion in the same period last year as personal and corporate income tax revenues rose and debt charges were lower.The monthly shortfall in October was C$1.68 billion, compared with a gap of C$2.13 billion a year earlier, the Department of Finance...

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"Fiscal cliff" creates waiting game for payrolls firms

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - At payroll processing businesses across the United States, the "fiscal cliff" stalemate in Washington means uncertainty over tax-withholding tables just days before the start of 2013.The U.S. Internal Revenue Service still has not issued the tables for next year that show how much money employers should hold back from workers' paychecks to cover federal income taxes.Payroll...

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No. 1 Notre Dame has underdog in its DNA

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — The rankings say Notre Dame is No. 1 going into the BCS championship against Alabama. Plenty of folks aren't buying it, starting with the oddsmakers who currently have the Crimson Tide as about a touchdown favorite for the Jan. 7 meeting in Miami between two of college football's proudest programs.The Fighting Irish aren't sweating the point spread. In fact, it's pretty much...

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Big Ten teams all underdogs in bowl season

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Big Ten spent much of the year as a national punch line.It might get worse during bowl season.The Big Ten could only fill seven of its eight predetermined bowl slots — and each of those bowl-bound teams is currently an underdog.From the five-loss Wisconsin team that still wound up in the Rose Bowl to the 6-6 Purdue squad that fired its coach, the beleaguered Big Ten isn't...

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Big 12 basketball lacking depth this season

The top of the Big 12 looks familiar, with Kansas in first place and ranked in the top 10.The rest of the league doesn't appear to be nearly as deep as usual this season, its first with West Virginia and TCU instead of Missouri and Texas A&M.No. 24 Oklahoma State (8-1) is the only other league team to join the ninth-ranked Jayhawks (8-1) in the Top 25 and nobody else received a single vote for...

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Notre Dame's Kelly wins AP coach of the year

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — After two seasons as Notre Damecoach, Brian Kelly decided he wasn't spending enough time doing the best part of his job: coaching players. Kelly changed that in 2012, and he shuffled his staff. Then, with Kelly more in tune to his team and the assistants in sync with the head coach, Notre Dame went from unranked to top-ranked. For leading the Fighting...

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Spelman College to cut sports in bid to improve student health

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Spelman College, the oldest historically black U.S. college for women, is scrapping its competitive sports program in a bold effort to help students combat the troubling health statistics faced by African-American women. The private school, based in Atlanta, Georgia, will cease competing against other colleges' athletic teams at the end of the current...

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