Like any highway needing to accommodate growth in traffic by building more lanes, Internet service providers in the past decade have invested hundreds of billions of dollars to build ever-faster lanes on the Internet. With the rapid deployment of new broadband networks last year, English-speaking Hispanics increased their subscription to broadband services by 46 percent.

Wal-Mart, already Mexico's largest retailer, is hoping to tap into the country's booming consumer-loan market when it opens its own bank in the second half of next year, executives said on Monday.

A fact sheet from the nonpartisan Pew Hispanic Center reviewing voting in this month's mid-term elections finds it difficult to draw any definite conclusions about the Hispanic vote, no matter what pundits may claim.

Proponents of easing travel restrictions and other sanctions, emboldened by this month's congressional elections, foresee a more receptive climate for new policies to help Americans connect with the Cuban people.

As local governments across the United States enact tough ordinances to fight illegal immigration, the American Civil Liberties Union is leading a charge to fight the measures in court. The group has joined Hispanic organizations in suing several localities, saying the laws are unconstitutional and conflict with state and federal immigration and housing statutes.

Banco Popular, for the first time, ranked No. 1 in terms of the dollar value of its loans, while Bank of America led the pack in the number of loans during the federal fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the SBA said.

The National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC) recognized minority businesses at its San Diego conference earlier this month, with its Corporation of the Year Awad going to DaimlerChrysler.

Advertisers' efforts to reach Hispanic consumers are becoming more targeted, and language is a major factor. Advertisers spent more than $3.3 billion to market products to U.S. Hispanics in 2005, a 6.8 percent increase from 2004.

More than 20 percent of Cubans are 65 or older, while a scant 4 percent of Mexicans are in that age bracket. On the other hand, 37 percent of Mexicans and 31 percent of Puerto Ricans are younger than 18.

Abba Technologies Inc., based in Albuquerque with offices throughout the intermountain West, now employs more than 50 and bills just under $50 million a year. The company was just named the 2006 National Minority Supplier/Distributor Firm of the Year by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Small-business owners are struggling to pay the doctors' bills, and employees are hurting.