[naviga:h3]U.S. new-home sales fall[/naviga:h3]

WASHINGTON — Americans stepped back from buying new homes in March, the third straight monthly decline as sales plunged sharply in the Western states.

New-home sales slipped 1.5 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 511,000, the Commerce Department said Monday. That rate has steadily dropped from 519,000 in February and 521,000 in January. Sales plummeted 23.6 percent in the West, which has been prone to volatile swings.

[naviga:h3]Mitsubishi lied about miles[/naviga:h3]

TOKYO — Mitsubishi Motors, the Japanese automaker that acknowledged last week that it had intentionally lied about its models’ mileage, said an internal investigation found such tampering dated back to 1991.

President Tetsuro Aikawa told reporters today the probe was still ongoing, suggesting that more irregularities might be found.