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New claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, a government report showed on Thursday, but the underlying trend continued to point to improving labor market conditions.

A mall trade group says that last minute shoppers gave merchants a solid lift during the final week before Christmas. Sales at stores opened at least a year rose 0.9 percent for the week ended Saturday compared with the previous week and was up 4.5 percent compared with the same period a year ago, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index, released Wednesday.

A monthly survey showed consumers’ confidence in the economy surged in December and was near a post-recession peak, although home prices fell in October in most major U.S. cities.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that plaintiffs who claimed that President Obama was not born in the United States and is therefore not eligible to hold the office have no standing to sue him.

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits hit a 3-1/2 year low last week, bolstering views the economy was gaining momentum, even though third-quarter growth was revised down.

An Arizona State University student missing for 10 days survived on a Snickers candy bar, a bag of M&M's candies and melted snow for drinking water, authorities said Wednesday after the 23-year-old was found in a desolate area of east Arizona.

The economy is ending 2011 on a roll. The job market is healthier. Americans are spending lustily on holiday gifts. A long-awaited turnaround for the depressed housing industry may be under way. Gas is cheaper. Factories are busier. Stocks are higher. Not bad for an economy faced with a debt crisis in Europe and, as recently as last summer, scattered predictions of a second recession at home. Instead, the economy has grown faster each quarter this year, and the last three months should be the best.

Stocks are surging following encouraging signs out of Europe and a jump in apartment building in the U.S. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped more than 300 points....

Actor Gerard Butler got into a sea of trouble Monday after he was pulled underwater and had to be rescued during production of a new movie about surfing in California. The San Jose Mercury News reported that the 42-year-old Scottish actor was paddling out with three professional surfers when waves taller than 15-feet broke in front of them, sending the “300″ actor and the surfboard he was tethered to under the water.

Housing starts and permits for future construction jumped to a 1-1/2 year high in November as demand for rental apartments rose, suggesting the housing market was starting to recover.