The U.S. federal debt is quickly approaching its permitted limit, which is expected to be reached on May 16 at this rate, and a report from the International Monetary Fund insists on the necessity of some measures to quickly tackle the deficit. The U.S. federal deficit currently stands at $1.4 trillion and is expected to reach $1.5 trillion in the current fiscal year.

Once again some good news from the U.S. labor market, as the unemployment rate has fallen 1 percent in its four consecutive months of decrease, reaching a two-year low of 8.8 percent in March after the 8.9 percent in February.

Rumors that shortages in the United States might be repeated worldwide have made Apple fans queue outside Apple stores in Asia and Europe, in hopes to be among the first to purchase one of the iPad 2 tablet computers.

The U.S. housing market is still far from recovering, as home sales went even lower in February and prices hit a nine-year low, according to a National Association of Realtors report on Monday. Home fell 9.6 percent month over month to an annual rate of 4.88 million units, the percentage drop being the largest since July.

Japan’s nuclear crisis has negatively affected stocks in the United States during the last two days, but the Federal Reserve’s optimistic view on the economy made them end far from session lows, even they still fell 1 percent on Tuesday.

Figures released by U.S. health officials on Thursday show that almost 12 million people in the United States are cancer survivors, a number almost four times larger than 40 years ago. This means that new developments in cancer detection and treatment and the effect of an aging U.S. population have gone a long way over the last four decades.

Mexican businessman Carlos Slim reached the top of the latest Forbes magazine rich list, surpassing once again Microsoft’s founder Bill Gates, after his fortune rose by 38 percent. Slim’s wealth jumped by 20.5 billion dollars to 74 billion dollars, while Gates occupies the second place with 56 billion dollars.

WeatherBill is a weather insurance start-up founded by ex-Google employees David Friedberg and Siraj Khaliq and consists of a team of software engineers and climatologists who collate weather data from various sources.

The 83rd Academy Awards telecast was a flop in the United States, as only about 37.6 million Americans watched Sunday’s ceremony, making it one of the least-watched Academy Awards shows of the past 10 years.

Although fish spa pedicure has been practiced as a legitimate procedure in UK cosmetics centers, gaining a high status of popularity, national health officials have initiated an investigation on the grounds that it might contribute to spreading infections.