U.S. Director of Exempt Organizations for the Internal Revenue Service, Lois Lerner, takes her seat before a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on alleged targeting of political groups seeking tax-exempt status by the IRS, on Capitol Hill, in Washignton, on May 22, 2013. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

IRS official refuses to answer questions at hearing

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service official at the center of a scandal about extra tax scrutiny of conservative groups told Congress on Wednesday she had done nothing wrong but invoked her constitutional right not to answer questions.  Full Article | Video 

Home sales close in on three-and-a-half year high 1:56pm EDT

WASHINGTON - Home resales rose in April to the highest level in nearly 3-1/2 years and prices surged, offering the economy a buffer from the stiff headwinds posed by belt-tightening by Washington.

Ibragim Todashev is pictured in this undated booking photo courtesy of the Orange County Corrections Department. REUTERS/Orange County Corrections Department/Handout

FBI kills man questioned in Boston bombings

ORLANDO, Fla./WASHINGTON - An FBI agent shot and killed a man of Chechen origin who turned violent while being questioned about his connection to Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of two Chechen brothers suspected of carrying out the Boston Marathon bombings.  Full Article 

A U.S. flag from the Plaza Towers elementary school is erected on poles in front of the school in Moore, Oklahoma, May 22, 2013. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

Tornado victims astounded at how they survived

MOORE, Oklahoma - Tornado survivors thanked God, sturdy closets and luck in explaining how they lived through the colossal twister that devastated an Oklahoma town and killed 24 people, an astonishingly low toll given the extent of destruction.  Full Article | Video 

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad talks during a news conference at the end of his visit to Cairo, February 7, 2013. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih

Moving ahead with a plant that worries the West

VIENNA - Iran is pressing ahead with the construction of a research reactor that Western experts say could offer it a second way of producing material for a nuclear bomb if it decides to make one, a U.N. report showed.  Full Article 

 Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies before the Joint Economic Committee in Washington May 22, 2013. Reuters/Gary Cameron

Bernanke suggests Fed not ready to pull back

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve's monetary stimulus is helping the economy recover but the central bank needs to see further signs of traction before taking its foot off the gas, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said.  Full Article 

Men are silhouetted against a video screen with an Apple logo as they pose with an Apple iPhone 4 smartphone in this photo illustration taken in the central Bosnian town of Zenica, May 17, 2013. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

EU leaders shine spotlight on Apple tax policy

BRUSSELS - European leaders plan to discuss how to combat aggressive tax avoidance by major companies such as Apple, Amazon and Google and cut the estimated 1 trillion euros a year the EU loses to tax evasion or avoidance.  Full Article 

Firefighters extinguish a burning car, following riots in the Stockholm suburb of Kista late May 21, 2013, in this picture provided by Scanpix. REUTERS/Fredrik Sandberg/Scanpix

Stockholm riots belie image of happy Swedes

STOCKHOLM - Hundreds of young people have torched cars and attacked police in three nights of riots in immigrant suburbs of Sweden's capital, underscoring the country's failure to defuse youth unemployment and resentment of asylum seekers.  Full Article 

Army soldiers open a road that was blocked by supporters of Sunni Muslim Salafist leader Ahmad al-Assir during the funeral of Hezbollah member Saleh Ahmed Sabagh in the port-city of Sidon in southern Lebanon, May 22, 2013. REUTERS/Ali Hashisho

U.S. may help rebels if Assad won't talk peace

AMMAN/BEIRUT - The United States and its allies are ready to increase support for Syria's rebels if President Bashar al-Assad refuses to discuss a political solution to his country's civil war, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said.  Full Article 

Sony Music act Beyonce looks out at the photographers as she comes backstage to pose with her award for Best Traditional R&B Performance for "Love On Top" at the 55th annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California February 10, 2013.  REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

Entertaining change: Sony eyes spin-off idea

TOKYO - Few foreign activist investors have made much headway in forcing change in Japan. Hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb is hoping to be an exception with his push to make Sony spin off its film, television and music business.  Full Article 

Video captures tornado ripping through small town in Russia

May 22- Over a dozen people were injured and 80 buildings damaged after a rare tornado ripped through the small town of Yefremov in central Russia. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

Edward Hadas

Apple, hypocrisy and stakeholder tax

Politicians are hypocrites when they complain about the cross-border tax strategies of Apple and other multinationals. But "hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue." It’s high time that companies admit taxes on profit are fair payments for the help that governments give them.  Commentary 

Bethany McLean

How much does Jamie Dimon matter?

To his supporters, he’s the personification of everything that’s best about the financial system. But to detractors, he’s the personification of all that’s wrong with modern banking — the arrogance, the resistance to new regulation, the astronomical pay in the face of obvious mistakes.  Commentary 

Gary Regenstreif

What Hollande can learn from Queen of Hearts

So far there has been little to show for his economic policies. Some actions have backfired and others have not gone far enough.  Commentary 

Glenn Hubbard and Tim Kane

U.S. power: Down but still unrivaled

Beijing does not threaten to counterbalance U.S. power as gravely as America’s economy threatens to become imbalanced on its own.  Commentary 

John Lloyd

The European Union's unending quandary

As recession deepens in the euro zone, the political questions about what comes next are resurfacing.  Commentary 

Bill Schneider

Party opinion usurps public opinion

We are witnessing the slow death of public opinion in this country. It’s being displaced by party opinion. Elections today are less and less about persuasion and more and more about mobilization: You rally your supporters in order to beat back your opponents.  Commentary