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Builders began work on fewer houses than forecast in December, capping the worst year on record for single-family home construction and signaling recovery in the industry will take time.

Housing starts dropped 4.1 percent to a 657,000 annual rate last month, reflecting a slump in multifamily dwellings, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. Building permits, a proxy for future construction, were little changed.

Four years after housing helped spark the last recession, falling home prices and ongoing foreclosures are hampering an industry-wide recovery. For all of 2011, work was started on 428,600 single-family homes as construction competed with the surfeit of previously owned dwellings.

The Greek government and its creditors return to the negotiating table this week to revive stalled talks on a debt swap as German Chancellor Angela Merkel places pressure on both sides to forge a deal.

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said two days ago that talks with the Institute of International Finance will resume on Jan. 18. The Washington-based IIF, which represents banks holding the bonds, said on Jan. 14 there is a

Employment grew solidly last month and the jobless rate dropped to a near three-year low of 8.5 percent, offering the strongest evidence yet of an acceleration in economic activity.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 200,000 last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, the most in three months and way above economists’ expectations for a 150,000 gain.

The economy needs to sustain the current pace of job creation to signal a robust recovery is finally under way.

The unemployment rate dropped from a revised 8.7 percent in November, which was previously reported as 8.6 percent. The jobless rate is now the lowest since February 2009.

“This highlights that the U.S. economy is on its way to recovery even as strains in Europe persist,” said David Watt, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital in Toronto.

Stocks index futures extended gains on the data, while prices for Treasury debt fell. The dollar rose against the euro.

Signs the labor market is gaining traction could offer some comfort for the Obama administration, whose economic policies are constantly attacked by the Republicans.

The state of the labor market could determine whether President Barack Obama gets re-elected in November.

The report cemented views that growth in the fourth quarter accelerated after a tepid performance in the first 9 months of the year.

A string of better-than-expected U.S. economic indicators in recent weeks has highlighted a contrast between the recovery in the world’s biggest economy and Europe, which is already widely believed to be in recession and probably faces worse to come.

Though the payrolls count for October and November was revised to show 8,000 fewer jobs created than previously reported, there is no denying the labor market is recovering.

The separate household survey, from which the jobless rate is derived, showed gains in employment and a modest decline in the labor force, helping to lower the jobless rate.

A broad measure of unemployment, which includes people who want to work but have stopped looking and those working only part time but who want more work, dropped to an almost three-year low of 15.2 percent from 15.6 percent in November.

Still, the economy needs even faster pace of job growth over a sustained period to make a noticeable dent in the pool of the 23.7 million Americans who remain either out of work or underemployed since the end of the 2007-09 recession business card design.

With the labor market still far from healthy, the debt crisis in Europe unresolved and tensions over Iran threatening to drive up oil prices, the U.S. economy faces stiff headwinds.

Economists predict the recovery will lose a step early this year after expanding in the fourth quarter at what is expected to be the fastest pace in 1-1/2 years.

This should keep alive the possibility of the Federal Reserve embarking on a third round of asset purchases, or quantitative easing, to spur stronger growth.

GOVERNMENT A DRAG

All the job gains in December came from the private sector, where payrolls rose 212,000 - the most in three months. Government employment contracted 12,000.

For all of 2011, the private sector added 1.9 million jobs, while government employment fell 280,000.

A measure of the share of industries that showed job gains during the month rebounded after falling sharply in November.

There were job gains in construction, where unseasonably mild weather has boosted groundbreaking for new homes. Construction payrolls increased 17,000 after falling 12,000 in November.

Transportation and warehousing also got a boost from the mild temperatures, with employment jumping 50,200.

The bulk of the transportation increase came from the courier and messenger industry, which rose 42,000, probably reflecting gains from online purchases during the holiday season.

Manufacturing jobs rose 23,000, the largest gain since July. Factory employment rose 225,000 last year.

Retail employment rose 27,900 after hefty gains in November as retailers geared for a busy holiday shopping season.

Healthcare and social assistance increased 28,7000 after rising 20,200 in November. But temporary hiring - seen as a harbinger of future hiring - fell 7,500 in December after gaining 11,200.

Even though employment picked up last month, hourly earnings rose a modest four cents, indicating that most of the jobs being created are low paying. The high unemployment rate also means wages cannot grow much.

This is a potentially troubling sign for consumer spending, which has been largely supported by a reduction in savings.

The average workweek rose to 34.4 hours from 34.3 hours in November.

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A big earnings miss from Caterpillar wasn’t enough to derail a rally that pushed the stock market up 2 percent for the week.

Caterpillar fell almost 6 percent Friday after its second-quarter results came in below analysts’ expectations. Technology stocks rose broadly following strong earnings from the chip maker Advanced Micro Devices and Microsoft.

The Dow Jones industrial average is closing with a loss of 43 points, or 0 payday loans lenders.3 percent, to 12,681. The Standard and Poor’s 500 index is up 1, or 0.1 percent, to 1,345. The Nasdaq is up 24, or 0.9 percent, at 2,589. Each index finished the week higher.

Rising and falling shares were about even on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was lighter than average at 3.3 billion shares.

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The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has struggled for years to deal with an issue that lies at the heart of Internet services in Canada: how can it foster greater competition from independent Internet providers while also addressing telecom and cable company concerns about network congestion.

In 2009, the CRTC believed it found the right solution. It established Internet traffic management guidelines (often referred to as net neutrality rules) that created limits on how Internet providers could throttle or limit download speeds and it encouraged providers to use

Leaders in four area counties announced on Thursday a regional anti-meth drive

The U.S. ambassador here says the Obama administration remains open to the idea of keeping thousands of American troops in Iraq next year, if asked, despite a spike of deathly attacks on soldiers by Shiite militias.

Ambassador James F. Jeffrey emphasized Saturday that no decision has been made by Washington. Baghdad’s Shiite-led government has not asked to extend the U.S. troop presence, though it is widely expected to do so.

Jeffrey says U.S. troops appear to be the militias’ top target now, but that attacks will continue against Iraqis if the American military leaves.

Fifteen U.S. soldiers died in Iraq in June, nearly all of them killed by Shiite militiamen. It was the bloodiest month for Americans troops in two years.

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An investment scheme to sell shares in a company purporting to build Russian vodka stands has cost local financial consultant Paul Burkemper a $100,000 fine and his ability to sell securities in the state of Missouri.

The sanctions were outlined in a consent order signed by Burkemper and the secretary of state’s office Wednesday and follow a cease and desist order issued by regulators in May 2010 that shut down the scheme. Under the agreement, Burkemper is banned for life from selling securities in the state.

Burkemper, whose office was in Sunset Hills, partnered with Ilya Vishnevetsky, formerly of Clayton, to sell shares to investors in I.P. Holding LLC, based in St. Louis. Investors were told their money would go toward building more than a dozen kiosks that would sell vodka in St. Petersburg.

But the securities were never registered with the state and investors did not receive required financial information regarding the venture, such as a business plan, statement of financial condition or risk disclosure.

Burkemper and Vishnevetsky also formed a business in 2008 called Select Auto to export cars from the U.S. to Russia. And they used some of the money from the vodka business to buy cars for Select Auto, without disclosing that to investors, according to the consent order.

At least 11 people invested $1.9 million in the vodka venture from 2006 to 2008. In the consent order, the state concluded that Burkemper made untrue statements and failed to disclose material facts in connection with the investment offer.

Burkemper was an agent of Overland Park, Kan no teletrack payday loan.-based VSR Financial Services from May 2004 through August 2009, and he approached some of his VSR customers with the vodka investment offer without disclosing the investment to VSR.

“It should be a big red flag if you’re working with a broker, it is against state law for them to engage in something on the side,” said Laura Egerdal, a spokeswoman with the secretary of state’s office.

“Oftentimes, these involve high amounts of risk or are just flat out scams.”

Through his attorney, Albert Watkins, Burkemper declined to comment.

Watkins said Burkemper is no longer selling securities but has started a consulting firm in St. Louis advising those in the securities industry how to avoid securities violations.

Many of the 11 investors in the vodka stand venture were Burkemper’s friends and family members, and Burkemper was deceived by Vishnevetsky into believing the vodka stands were being built in Russia, Watkins said. The lawyer also said Burkemper received electronic images of kiosks in development and copies of leases in Russia that later proved to be fakes.

Burkemper “has cooperated with regulators and federal law enforcement and has accepted his responsibility as the registered financial adviser, and for having getting everyone, including himself, involved in this investment,” Watkins said.

The secretary of state’s office had fined Vishnevetsky $34,000. He could not be reached for comment.

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Internet minders voted Monday to allow virtually unlimited new domain names based on themes as varied as company brands, entertainment and political causes, in the system’s biggest shake-up since it started 26 years ago.

Groups able to pay the $185,000 application can petition next year for new updates to “.com” and “.net” with website suffixes using nearly any word in any language, including in Arabic, Chinese and other scripts, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers decided at a meeting in Singapore.

“This is the start of a whole new phase for the Internet,” said Peter Dengate Thrush, chairman of ICANN’s board of directors. “Unless there is a good reason to restrain it, innovation should be allowed to run free.”

ICANN’s decision culminates six years of negotiations and is the biggest change to the system since “.com” made its debut in 1984. The expansion plan had been delayed largely because of concerns that new suffixes could infringe on trademarks and copyrights.

High-profile entertainment, consumer goods and financial services companies will likely be among the first to apply for their own domain name in a bid to protect their brands, experts said.

“It will allow corporations to better take control of their brands,” said Theo Hnarakis, chief executive of Melbourne IT, which manages online brands for clients such as Volvo, LEGO and GlaxoSmithKline. “For example, .apple or .ipad would take customers right to those products.”

The surge in domains should help alleviate some of the overlap of names in the most popular suffixes, especially “.com”, which has 94 million sites registered.

More than 300 suffixes are available today, the bulk of them country-specific codes, such as “.jp” for Japan and “.fr” for France. Those are typically restricted to groups or individuals with a presence in the countries. Only a handful are open for general use worldwide.

In March, ICANN approved “.xxx” for pornography, but some porn sites have declined to adopt the suffix, fearing it will make it easier for governments to ban them loan for people with bad credit. Conservative groups opposed the “.xxx” name too, arguing it could attract children to adult sites.

Analysts said they expect between 500 to 1,000 new domain names, mostly companies and products, but also cities and generic names such as “.bank” or “.hotel.” Groups have formed to back “.sport” for sporting sites, and two conservationist groups separately are seeking the right to operate an “.eco” suffix.

ICANN plans to auction off domains if multiple parties have legitimate claims. However, it expects companies will likely strike deals among themselves to avoid a public auction.

“I think we’ll see much more of that going on than see auctions generating circuses,” Dengate Thrush said. “But there is that prospect that there will be a couple of identical applicants and applications.”

The application process is arduous _ the fee is $185,000 and the guidebook is 360 pages _ and meant to prevent scammers from grabbing valuable domain names. ICANN will receive applications for new domains for 90 days beginning Jan. 12.

“It’s a significant undertaking. We’re calling it the Olympic bid,” said Adrian Kinderis, chief executive of AusRegistry International, which helps companies to register domains and manages names such as “.au” for Australia.

“But it’s worth it for corporations that have suffered from things like trademark infringement, and can now carve out a niche on the internet,” Kinderis said.

ICANN said it has set aside up to $2 million to assist applicants from developing countries.

“The board’s very enthusiastic about providing support for applicants from developing areas where the evaluation fee or access to technical expertise might be somewhat of a bar,” ICANN senior vice president Kurt Pritz told reporters after the meeting.

ICANN said in a statement that it will mount a global publicity campaign to raise awareness of the opportunities of new domain names.

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