Business_Finance

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Islamist militants raided and took hostages at the Amenas natural gas field in the eastern central region of Algeria on Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013. (AP Photo/BP)

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Richard Kane, president and CEO of International Limousine Service Inc., said he expects to rent 30 to 40 more vehicles for Inauguration Day activities next week, down from an additional 70 for the first swearing-in of President Obama in 2009. (Andrew S. Geraci/The Washington Times)

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Timothy W. Cannon faces a maximum of five years in prison after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court to negotiating employment with a company that had a multimillion-dollar contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. (Courtesy of Federal Emergency Management Agency)

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Rep. Sander M. Levin, Michigan Democrat, said that tax reform will likely have to wait while Congress wrestles over an increase in the nation’s borrowing limit and automatic spending cuts. (Associated Press)

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Jason Forcier (right), vice president and general manager of A123 Systems Inc., shows off a lithium-ion battery at a plant in Romulus, Mich., in 2011 to (from left) A123 President and CEO David Vieau, Rep. John D. Dingell, Michigan Democrat, and Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Now in bankruptcy, the pending sale of A123 to a China-based company has vendors and stockholders trying to recoup some of they money they have lost. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** A couple descend an escalator while shopping at an H&M store in Atlanta on Dec. 12, 2012. (Associated Press)

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House Speaker John A, Boehner, Ohio Republican, walks to the House chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 15, 2013, as lawmakers debate the details of an emergency spending package to assist victims of Superstorm Sandy that devastated parts of the Northeast coast in October. (Associated Press)

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Air Force Secretary Michael B. Donley said immediate budget-saving measures are "reversible and recoverable" as the service braces for the threat of automatic spending cuts March 1. (Associated Press)