World Briefly

By The Associated Press | Clanton Advertiser

Published Monday, January 26, 2009

Cascading layoffs hit workers, no relief in sight

WASHINGTON – The recession is killing jobs at an alarming pace, with tens of thousands of new layoffs announced Monday by some of the biggest names in American business: Pfizer, Caterpillar and Home Depot.

More pink slips, pay freezes and other hits are expected to slam workers in the months ahead as companies desperately look for ways to survive.

Struggling automakers will spend

billions to produce greener cars

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama wants automakers to make greener cars at a time when General Motors and Chrysler are hanging by the thread of a massive government loan and auto sales have plummeted to their lowest levels in more than two decades.

Obama’s plans could bring smaller cars, more hybrids and advanced fuel-saving technologies to showrooms, but car shoppers will probably pay more upfront because the new rules are expected to cost the hamstrung industry billions of dollars.

Prosecutor gives statement in Ill. impeachment trial

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The prosecutor in the impeachment trial of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich says his goal is not to punish the governor.

Instead, David Ellis says the goal of impeachment is to protect citizens from someone who has “repeatedly and utterly abused the powers of his office.”

US: Re-emergence of former prisoners shows risk of release

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The re-emergence of two former Guantanamo Bay prisoners as al-Qaida terrorists in the past week won’t likely change U.S. policy on transfers to Saudi Arabia, the Pentagon said Monday.

More than 100 Saudis have been repatriated from the U.S. military’s prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Saudi Arabia, where the government puts them through a rehabilitation program designed to encourage them to abandon Islamic extremism and reintegrate into civilian life.

UN faces daunting relief and reconstruction task

JEBALIYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip – Crouching against piled mattresses in a room crammed with refugees, Bissan Abu al-Eish focused on her homework, blocking out the relentless shrieks of dozens of toddlers and the stench of overflowing latrines.

“I’m so happy to be studying,” said the 9-year-old girl, bent over the new textbook she received this weekend when classes resumed for 200,000 Gaza children at United Nations facilities.

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