Government And Institutions

Antitrust regulators are challenging the $3.5 billion sale of US Foods to Sysco, saying the deal would hurt customers by reducing competition between food supply companies.

Figures on government spending and debt (last six digits are eliminated).

A judge has ruled that American Express violated U.S. antitrust laws by barring merchants from asking customers to prefer one credit card over another.

Cigarette maker Reynolds American Inc. is partnering with pharmaceutical consultancy to develop products that help people stop smoking.

Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates have risen for a second straight week yet remained near historically low levels.

Members of an influential farming group lobbied Iowa lawmakers on Wednesday to approve a fuel tax increase to pay for road improvements.

Romania plans to start cutting taxes from next year to boost economic growth and increase living standards.

Michigan is potentially on the hook for $9.4 billion in business tax credits over the next two decades, nearly $3 billion more than projected just weeks ago, the state's top economic development official said Wednesday.

New York authorities have accused United Parcel Service in a federal lawsuit of shipping 700,000 cartons of untaxed cigarettes in the state between 2010 and 2014 despite an earlier agreement to stop.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski used her speech before state lawmakers Wednesday to push back against a federal government that she says seems to want to starve the trans-Alaska pipeline system of new oil.

Gov. Dannel P.

The following are highlights of Democratic Gov. Dannel P.

A state lawmaker will hold oversight hearings into allegations of wrongdoing at the Public Utilities Commission — particularly its relationship with Southern California Edison, principal owner of the now-shuttered San Onofre nuclear plant.

Greece's government spokesman says the country will officially present its creditors later Wednesday with a proposal aimed to save bailout talks from collapse.

Foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury securities rose to a record level in December despite investors in China and Japan, the two biggest foreign owners of Treasury debt, cutting back on their holdings.

Florida has eclipsed California to become the state with the highest number of consumers buying health insurance in both the state and federal exchange under the Affordable Care Act.

A Colorado bill to spend about $5 million to put more local produce in school cafeterias passed its first test Wednesday at the Legislature.

Nevada Democrats decried a lack of transparency after Republicans members of a Senate committee passed a sharply debated bill Wednesday designed to curb lawsuits against construction defects.

The short-term housing rental service Airbnb has paid back taxes that ran into the millions of dollars to the city of San Francisco, the company said Wednesday.

The White House estimates that more than 11 million people signed up for subsidized private health insurance under President Barack Obama's law this year.