Business_Finance

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Carnival Corp. Chief Executive Officer Micky Arison speaks about the state of the cruise industry during an interview in his office at company headquarters in Miami in 2007. (AP Photo/David Adame)

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A shopper looks over clothing at the Vermont Trading Company in Montpelier, Vt., on Tuesday, April 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot)

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**FILE** Iranian vendors hold their dogs as they wait for customers at an animal vendors' weekly open air market in a suburb of Tehran on Dec. 30, 2011. (Associated Press)

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Softbank Corp. President Masayoshi Son and Sprint Nextel Corp. CEO Dan Hesse have reached a deal in which the Japanese mobile carrier will acquire 78 percent of U.S.-based Sprint for $21.6 billion.

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Sen. Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat, is at the center of negotiations to strike a deal on the cost of college student loans before rates double Monday. (Associated Press)

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Fourth of July travel to the nation's capital and other cities may be down from 2012 due to concerns about the economy and higher costs. But deal-savvy travelers can still snag lower travel prices for the holiday. (The Washington Times)

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**FILE** Caroline Atkinson, director of external relations for the International Monetary Fund, holds a press conference at Daejeon Convention Center in Korea on July 12, 2010. (Associated Press)

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Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican questions why the Department of Agriculture is spending money on starting wine festivals, marketing a Bloody Mary mix and helping homeowners on tony Martha's Vineyard while Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack says the sequester is forcing him to cut off food aid for 600,000 needy women and children.