President Obama on Monday proposed a two-year freeze of all pay for federal workers, excluding military personnel, in his first major post-election move to show seriousness about spending restraint and debt and deficit reduction. (more)
BRUSSELS (AP) — Tens of thousands of workers marched Wednesday through the streets of Europe, decrying the loss of jobs and benefits they fear will come with stinging austerity measures seeking to contain government debt. (more)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI and the Labor Department are investigating prominent labor leader Andy Stern in a probe of corruption at the Service Employees International Union, according to two people who have been interviewed by federal agents. (more)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government hired a New Orleans man for $18,000 to appraise whether news stories about its actions in the Gulf oil spill were positive or negative for the Obama administration, which was keenly sensitive to comparisons between its response and former President George W. Bush’s much-maligned reaction to Hurricane Katrina. (more)
BAGHDAD (AP) — The number of U.S. troops in Iraq has fallen below 50,000 for the first time since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and ahead of the end-of-the-month deadline mandated by President Barack Obama, the American military said in a statement Tuesday. (more)
HAVANA (AP) — At a state project to refurbish a decaying building in Old Havana, one worker paints a wall white while two others watch. A fourth sleeps in a wheelbarrow positioned in a sliver of shade nearby and two more smoke and chat on the curb. (more)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — As the Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger was the technology of the future, feared by humans. As governor, he’s being foiled by the technology of the past. (more)
Economic recovery in the world’s richest countries is accelerating thanks to a “substantial” rebound in trade and growth in Asia, but austerity measures are needed to reduce deficits, as Europe’s debt crisis proves, said the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (more)
LONDON (AP) — Six weeks of vacation a year. Retirement at 60. Thousands of euros for having a baby. A good university education for less than the cost of a laptop. (more)
NEW YORK (AP) — America’s top CEOs are set for a once-in-a-lifetime pay bonanza. (more)
HADDONFIELD, N.J. (AP) — They’re the kind of obscenity-laced schoolyard taunts that could get a student suspended. (more)
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Clashes between riot police and rock-throwing, masked youths broke out during a demonstration Thursday in central Athens by tens of thousands of striking workers protesting austerity measures that the Greek government has said it has no choice but to implement. (more)
The recession has reached the executive suites of the nation’s public universities and colleges, putting a stop to a string of large annual pay increases for school presidents. (more)
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Italy will fund the operations of key ministries of the fragile Somali government battling a long-running Islamic insurgency, the Italian foreign minister said on Thursday. (more)
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Public schools will need greater flexibility — including the ability to modify teacher contracts — to weather a proposed $27 million midyear cut, the Idaho Department of Education said. (more)
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Crab cakes, creme brulee and Crown Royal combined with charges of cronyism are carrying the critics of North Carolina’s nearly 75-year-old liquor sales system when a 75-page legislative report alone did not. (more)
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — Mahmoud Tamimi’s friends call it the “Dubai syndrome” — the insatiable longing for a city he loves but was forced to leave. Back in Dubai, the 31-year-old had a good job, nice apartment and a $3,700 monthly salary, dozens of times what he’d ever made before. (more)
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota lawmakers are split on whether state employees should get a pay raise in the next budget year, according to a survey by The Associated Press. (more)
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Commerce Secretary-designate Robert Sledd’s refusal to step down from the boards of three large corporations presents no conflict of interest, Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell said Monday. (more)
