UNEMPLOYMENT

Asian stock markets declined Friday as batch of disappointing economic readings from the US signaled that the recovery was slowing in the world's biggest economy.

This 4/20 music mix is a totally unofficial and hole-fileld list of the best songs about the herb to listen to on Friday. It's mostly hip hop, though there's a reggae mix to die for thrown in for fun. But if you just put them on and take a sunny afternoon drive or lay back on your bed and let the chunes in, you'll be 'laxing in an ear-tickled haze by 4:21 p.m. (or a.m., if you get down like that.)

Asian shares slipped Friday as disappointing U.S. economic data stirred doubts about the strength of recovery, while the yen weakened after the Bank of Japan flagged the prospect of further monetary easing to support the struggling economy.

The number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits for the first time fell only slightly last week, suggesting that job growth in April will not improve much after March's disappointing performance.

The index of U.S. leading economic indicators rose 0.3 percent in March, extending its upward trend for a sixth month. Thursday's data points to a more positive outlook despite subdued consumer expectations and weakness in manufacturing new orders.

Stocks were set to open little changed on Thursday as investors grappled with euro zone uncertainty, a raft of corporate earnings and softer-than-expected data on the domestic labor market.

More Americans than expected filed for jobless benefits last week, which also happens to coincide with the April payroll employment survey week, echoing the International Monetary Fund's view that job creation this year and next will be modest at best.

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell less than expected last week, according to a government report on Thursday that could dampen hopes of a pick-up in job creation in April after March's slowdown.

New U.S. claims for unemployment benefits fell less than expected last week, according to a government report on Thursday that could dampen hopes of a pick-up in job creation in April after March's slowdown.

Asian shares moved in a narrow range Thursday after the previous day's rally as investors grew cautious ahead of a key Spanish bond sale that would test the market's risk appetite as concerns mounted over the euro zone's debt crisis.

Juan Carlos I, the king of Spain, issued a public apology on Wednesday in response to widespread criticism of his ill-timed elephant-hunting vacation in Botswana. Is the once-revered Spanish monarch is likely to step down?

More than half of local and state employees continue to work under pay freezes, while others are accelerating their retirements or facing the prospects of layoffs as the effects of the recession linger on the public sector, according to a survey released on Wednesday.

The Obama campaign launched an appeal to Latino voters on Wednesday, seeking to bolster its advantage with a bloc of voters that could play a pivotal role in several swing states.

A Florida law mandating drug testing for welfare applicants failed to save money or identify many drug abusers, data that sharpens concerns about a similar law just enacted in Georgia.

Economic experts watching Spain don't know how much money will be needed or precisely when, but some are near certain that Madrid will eventually seek a multi-billion euro bailout for its banks, and perhaps even for the state itself.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his key socialist contender Francois Hollande have narrowed the gap between them less than a week ahead of the first round of presidential election, polls indicate.

The U.S. economic outlook for next year is being shadowed by what economists are calling the fiscal cliff of 2013 -- the expiration of enormous tax cuts and transfer payments.

About 90 percent of Syrian crude exports went to Europe -- oil revenues represented about one-fifth of Syria’s GDP.

The second congressional hearing on the General Services Administration's (GSA) wasteful spending of taxpayers' money continued on Tuesday, with at least one lawmaker saying it's time to start talking about an alternative to the GSA.

German investor confidence unexpectedly rose on in April, calming fears that the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis is weighing down the country's economy, according to a report from Mannheim, Germany-based Centre for European Economic Research, or ZEW.

Global growth is slowly improving as recovery in the United States gains traction and dangers from Europe recede, but risks remain elevated and the gains are very fragile, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday.