Top Stories - U.S. News & World Report

By now, the irony is obvious: The automaker that trounced rivals with top-tier quality and reliability is embroiled in a series of massive recalls to fix problems other vehicles don't have. All told, Toyota has recalled about 4.5 million vehicles in the United States since last fall--and nearly twice that number worldwide--for at least three distinct problems involving gas pedals and braking systems. The recalls affect top models like the Camry, Corolla, RAV4, and Prius, and there's no guarantee that the worst is over. Full Story »

Amid high unemployment and sliding home prices, a growing number of struggling consumers are doing what was once considered unthinkable: paying their credit card bills instead of their mortgages. A recent study developed by TransUnion found the percentage of Americans who were current on their credit cards but behind on their mortgage increased to 6.6 percent in the third quarter of 2009, up from 4.3 percent in the first quarter of 2008. Meanwhile, the share of consumers making mortgage payments on time but behind on their credit cards moved in the opposite direction, sliding from 4. ... Full Story »

Frequently changing jobs can make it more difficult to save for retirement. The median job tenure of American workers was 5.1 years at the same job in 2008, according to a new study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Some job-hopping workers move in and out of retirement plan coverage throughout their career and cash out small 401(k) balances when they change jobs, both of which will lead to a smaller nest egg in retirement. ... Full Story »

The Chinese economy has so far this year given investors plenty of reasons to be spooked. For starters, there have been concerns that a tightened lending environment means that the Chinese government is winding down its massive stimulus package. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Composite Index, which is the most common way to track the performance of the Chinese stock market, has tumbled by around 8.8 percent year-to-date. Full Story »

Kids can be incredibly cruel to one another, but parents can help minimize the pain. That's the reassuring message from Carl Pickhardt, a clinical psychologist in Austin who recently wrote Why Good Kids Act Cruel: The Hidden Truth About the Pre-Teen Years (Sourcebooks, $14.99). Though Pickhardt's book is aimed at tweeners, I found his book helpful as the mom of a first grader already faced with "I'm not inviting you to my birthday party." Full Story »

Despite economists' expectations that the unemployment rate would climb well into the economic recovery, the percentage of unemployed, job-seeking Americans fell 0.3 percentage point in January to 9.7 percent, its lowest point since August. The unemployment rate is calculated through a separate survey from the payroll count, which found the nation's employers still reluctant to add new workers, as jobs fell by 20,000. Full Story »

There's one thing that's almost guaranteed to make your child do better in school: more recess. Not only do children do better academically if they get outside to play, but they have fewer behavior problems. That's the word from none other than the principals of America, who know all there is to know about bad behavior at school. Full Story »

Many colleges and universities place a premium on enrolling a racially diverse student body. But at most of these schools, their graduates might not be as varied as the students who entered as freshmen. Only about 40 percent of underrepresented minority students--blacks, Latinos, and American Indians--graduate from college within six years; the same statistic for nonminorities is 60 percent. Full Story »

Making homes suitable for elderly occupants is easy to describe, but it can be very expensive to do. The cheapest solution is to make homes senior-friendly when they are built, rather than trying to retrofit them. Some of the most elegant and cost-effective solutions are recognized each year by AARP and the National Association of Home Builders. The winning designs employ imaginative solutions that reduce energy consumption and use smart communications tools for home security and health-related "telemedical" applications. ... Full Story »

What do South Koreans, Romanians, and the Swiss all have in common? On average, they enjoy faster Internet connection speeds than Americans, according to the quarterly "State of the Internet Report" issued by Akamai, a technology company in Cambridge, Mass., that sells fast data delivery to businesses and other enterprises that put content online. The company looked through its data for an average connection speed throughout the United States and found it to be 3.9 megabits per second, the 18th highest among all countries--meaning that it is well behind first place South Korea, with 14. ... Full Story »