Business_Finance

6_252013_sprint-145218201.jpg

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.

6_252013_harkin8201.jpg

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)

6_232013_fourth-055-070421218201.jpg

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)

AP110516027718.jpg

**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)

6_202013_congress-republicans-88201.jpg

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.

Wall Street_Lea.jpg

Trading specialists Gregg Maloney (left) and Anthony Matesic confer on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, June 20, 2013, in New York. Financial markets were sliding after the Federal Reserve said it could end its huge bond-buying program by the middle of next year. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

6_192013_ap-phone-records-pruitt-58201.jpg

Associated Press CEO Gary Pruitt says at the National Press Club that the fallout from the Justice Department's seizure of AP phone records has "intimidated both official and nonofficial sources from speaking" to reporters.

6_192013_nsa-surveillance-148201.jpg

"We do have significant concerns [about contractors], and it is something that we need to look at," says NSA Director Gen. Keith B. Alexander, on the leaks of top-secret information. (Associated Press)