ELISE AMENDOLA / Associated Press Patrons sat inside a downtown Boston Starbucks yesterday. The chain will close 600 stores in the next year.

SEATTLE – For a decade it appeared there was no such thing as too many Starbucks stores for U.S. coffee drinkers, whose willingness to buy its $4 lattes and dark drip brews rationalized a second green-and-white mermaid awning just down the street – and sometimes even a third.

DETROIT – Sales of new cars and trucks plunged to their lowest level in more than a decade in June, as high gas prices and a weak economy kept American consumers away from dealer showrooms.

NEW YORK – Oil closed at a record near $141 a barrel yesterday on worries about tight supply and mounting tensions in the Middle East. In the United States, prices at the gas pump edged to their highest point.

SAN JOSE – Hackers broke into Citibank's network of ATMs inside 7-Eleven stores and stole customers' PIN codes, according to recent court filings that revealed a disturbing security hole in the most sensitive part of a banking record.

LOS ANGELES – Thousands of West Coast dockworkers kept working without a contract after negotiators failed to reach an agreement on a new labor pact yesterday. The workers agreed to stay on the job while negotiations continued, said Craig Merrilees, a spokesman for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

OMAHA, Neb. – A Chinese investment fund manager's bid for the chance to have lunch with billionaire Warren Buffett was the largest ever in a charity auction on eBay and surprised even Buffett.