U.N. Agency Warns of Rising Unemployment

PARIS — More than 197 million people worldwide are jobless, and an additional 39 million have simply given up looking for work, a United Nations agency said on Monday, warning that government budget-balancing was hurting employment and would probably lead to more job losses soon. Luca Bruno/Associated PressPerusing job postings in Milan. More than 197 million people worldwide are unemployed....

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Putin orders Russian computers to be protected after spy attacks

MOSCOW (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian authorities to protect state computers from hacking attacks, the Kremlin said on Monday, after an Internet security firm said a spy network had infiltrated government and embassy computers across the former Soviet bloc.Dubbed Red October, the network used phishing attacks – or unsolicited emails to intended targets – to infect the computers...

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President Obama: I Love Michelle's New Bangs

01/21/2013 at 04:20 PM EST President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama Matthew Cavanaugh/EPA/Landov First Lady Michelle Obama's new do has the approval of a very powerful man. Following his official swearing-in ceremony on Sunday, President Barack Obama attended...

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European shares test two-year highs, yen volatile before BOJ

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares inched towards two-year highs on Monday, as a political attempt to break a budget impasse in the United States and expectations of aggressive Japanese stimulus bolstered the appetite for shares. U.S. House Republican leaders said on Friday they would seek to pass a three-month extension of federal borrowing authority in the coming days to buy time for...

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Coup Attempt Is Said to Fail in Eritrea

GARSEN, Kenya — Eritrea, a sliver of a nation in the Horn of Africa that is one of the most secretive and repressive countries in the world, was cast into confusion on Monday after mutinous soldiers stormed the Ministry of Information and took over the state-run television service, apparently in a coup attempt. According to several people with close contacts inside Eritrea, the coup attempt...

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Notre Dame football star says he was not in on hoax – ESPN

(Reuters) – Notre Dame football star Manti Te’o has denied ever being in on an elaborate hoax, telling ESPN he had believed his relationship with a woman who turned out to be an online fabrication was real.The tragic story of his girlfriend and her injuries from a car accident and death from leukemia was one of the most widely recounted U.S. sports stories last year as Notre Dame made a drive toward...

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Selena Gomez: It Helps Being Friends with Taylor Swift and Vanessa Hudgens

By Alison Schwartz and Michelle Ward 01/20/2013 at 04:00 PM EST From left: Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens Stephen Lovekin/Getty; Bryan Bedder/Getty; Javier Mateo/StarTraks Boyfriends come and go, but Selena Gomez has a few very special – and very,...

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Flu season fuels debate over paid sick time laws

NEW YORK (AP) — Sniffling, groggy and afraid she had caught the flu, Diana Zavala dragged herself in to work anyway for a day she felt she couldn't afford to miss.A school speech therapist who works as an independent contractor, she doesn't have paid sick days. So the mother of two reported to work and hoped for the best — and was aching, shivering and coughing by the end of the day. She stayed home...

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Euro zone surveys to offer hope as Japan eases

LONDON (Reuters) - The prospect of stronger European manufacturing surveys and decisive monetary easing in Japan this week ought to bolster confidence that the global economy can look forward to better days. It is definitely not yet time to break open the champagne. The index derived from polls of purchasing managers across the euro zone, though recovering, is likely to remain...

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IHT Rendezvous: Paris and London, Snowy, More Beautiful and More Treacherous

Snow hit Paris and London for the second and third day, respectively, as locals and tourists reveled in the wonder of winter that usually bypasses these European capitals. But travel headaches afflicted both cities, as mere inches of snow shut down both roads and runways. After repeated years of cold and precipitation, at what point will we have to stop calling these European snowfalls “unusual”?...

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