At the same hearing, a consumer group warned that identity fraudsters were getting ready to pounce on the million-plus households whose numbers are at risk of falling off the Do Not Call Register later this year. The Senate is considering legislation that would extend the register - which

Hours worked by the self-employed climbed at an 8.5 percent annual pace in the last three months of 2009, the biggest increase in almost four years, according to data provided to Bloomberg News today by the Labor Department. The gain led to a 1 percent rise in total hours, the first advance since