For a few hours Friday, it looked like the First Family might be seriously looking at purchasing the newly renovated Katharine Hepburn estate in Connecticut on the Fenwick waterfront.

At least that was the rumor reported Friday by Hearst Newspapers, picking up on an earlier report of speculation by venerable gossip columnist Liz Smith — and it was soon bouncing around Twitter.

But the White House moved swiftly to squelch the speculation with a short statement: “It’s not true.”

Democratic political consultant and author William Curry said Friday he would have been surprised if the rumor turned out to be fact. I

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When it comes to plastic, to love it or to hate it is always the question. Indeed, there is a certain level of fear and loathing we have toward the stuff, when we hear, for example, about BPA leaching out of baby bottles into babies. But you have to admit, we kind of love — and definitely rely upon — the utility and convenience of the stuff whether in the form of a Ziploc bag, Nalgene bottle, credit card … you get the picture.

Plastic is everywhere. One way to push back on plastic use is to ban it, as Whole Foods did with its ban on single use plastic bags. E

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Chinese gold and copper miner Zijin Mining Group Co Ltd said on Tuesday that it would acquire 45 percent of Gold Eagle Mining Investment Ltd for 1.44 billion yuan ($226.7 million).

Gold Eagle owns a 100 percent interest in Tibet Tian Yuan Minerals Exploration Limited, the owner of the Tibet Xietongmen gold and copper project. - Reuters

Try to lower your interest rate. Negotiate with your bank. One other way is to convert your credit card debt into a personal loan debt. It will definitely be lesser than the credit card interest rate. Calculate your net worth and see if any of your investments could help you prepay a part of your loans.

Akash was an IT employee who was well settled in his career. With a take home that more than met his needs, Akash decided to invest in his future. Let us see how he managed his finances. He applied for a car loan and a home loan.

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(Financial Times) — Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, has cut his forecast for his country’s economic growth rate to 7% this year signaling a sharp slow down in the world’s fastest growing large economy after China.

Mr Singh said on Sunday that India was “going through difficult times,” alluding to a severe test of his leadership from falling growth, rising prices and a bitterly divided parliament. His acknowledgement of weaker economic performance comes weeks before elections in five states, including the political crucible of Uttar Pradesh.

Over past months, higher interest rates have throttled growth while the Congress-led government has been beset by high profile corruption scandals and an angry parliamentary opposition.

Last week, Pranab Mukherjee, the finance minister, had offered a more optimistic growth projection of 7.5% in the current fiscal year.

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Fed proposes new, tougher rules for big banks

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday said the largest U.S. banks and financial companies should hold extra cash on their balance sheets to cushion against financial crises. The proposal will affect banks with over $50 billion in assets. There are even stricter rules for companies with more than $500 billion, such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. Fed officials didn’t give a timeline but said the final rules will be released only after the regulators have a chance to incorporate comments from the public. The Fed is accepting comments for 90 days.

Glaxo to sell U.S. Read more…

The central bank’s monetary policy committee should reconsider whether its decision to cut the repurchase rate by only 0.25 percentage points recently was appropriate in the current situation, Commerce Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong said on Wednesday.

Mr Kittiratt said this before attending a seminar on “Reinvent Thailand” held by Krungthep Turakij, a daily Thai-language business newspaper.

The country had been severely damaged by the great floodsand the industry sector needs loans for rehabilitation, he said.

The minister advised business leaders to clearly show their standpoint on this matter.

“I do not want to interfere with the central bank’s work. This is m

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