California Home Loan 360

WASHINGTON - In more bad news for the beleaguered housing industry, sales of new homes fell in January for a third straight month, pushing activity down to the slowest pace in nearly 13 years.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Countrywide Financial Corp, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, said on Wednesday that foreclosures and late payments rose in December to the highest on record, sending its shares tumbling for a second day to their lowest in nearly 13 years.

An organ donor infected four transplant patients with the AIDS virus in what a donor group says is the first such transmission in the U.S. in 13 years.