UNEMPLOYMENT

China's big manufacturers narrowly avoided a contraction in December a survey showed on Sunday, but downward risks persist and suggest the world's second's second-largest economy will need fresh policy support to counter a slowdown in growth.

President Barack Obama, striking a hopeful note in a year-end weekly address, hailed foreign policy milestones while keeping pressure on Congress to further extend payroll tax cuts through the end of 2012.

So, why would Philadelphia's story be so much worse than other similarly troubled metropolises?

Greece faces another tough year in 2012, but the country must stick to its program of austerity and reform to stay in the Eurozone, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said in a prerecorded New Year's Eve address.

New U.S. claims for jobless benefits rose last week but the underlying trend pointed to an improving labor market, while regional factory data showed the economy gaining momentum as the year ended.

Jamaica's opposition People's National Party (PNP) secured an upsetting 41- to 22-seat victory over the Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) in Thursday's general elections, dispelling polls that had claimed the election would have been too close to call.

Gold prices fell on Thursday to their lowest level in nearly six months as tight liquidity in the euro zone forced investors to sell the metal, but strong U.S. economic data prompted a stock rally on Wall Street.

New claims for jobless benefits rose last week but the underlying trend pointed to an improving labor market, while regional factory data showed the economy gaining momentum as the year ended.

You can’t blame Americans for wanting to drop investing in U.S. stocks like a bad habit as the new year begins. Is the Dow’s recent rise above 12,000 a buy signal or another false rally?

A series of groundbreaking (and head-scratching) bills in states from Florida and Tennessee are set to become law on New Year's Day 2012. Here's everything you need to know, from aids for illegal immigrants and abortion restrictions to Utah's ban on Happy Hour and California's move for LGBT rights, and why you should care.

New claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, a government report showed on Thursday, but the underlying trend continued to point to improving labor market conditions.

The number of people seeking state unemployment benefits increased for the first time in four weeks, but with the figures dropping for three consecutive weeks prior to the most recent reading, this could be a sign that the U.S. job market is turning a corner.

New claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, a government report showed on Thursday, but the underlying trend continued to point to improving labor market conditions.

It surely has been an eventful year with popular uprisings, dictators being deposed or slain, royal marriages, celebrity divorces, and thrilling sports achievements, so here's a look at some of the top moments of 2011 as compiled by the IBTimes.

In a year filled with partisan strife, economic calamities and foreign policy conundrums, picking President Barack Obama's biggest achievements feels darned near impossible. But whittle away lowlights and a rather substantive list remains.

The king also pays a 40 percent tax on his income.

CIPD forecasts that joblessness will then peak at 2.85-million in 2013.

Opinion polls suggest that JLP and PNP are running neck-and- neck.

President Barack Obama will nominate Harvard economist Jeremy Stein and Jerome Powell, an investment banker and former Treasury official, to the two empty seats on the Federal Reserve's policy-setting board of governors.

Every year I have to go return some gift. I don't need a sweater, but I could sure use more working people. The virtuous circle of capitalism only works when everyone is working. That's how consumers pay my bills, and everyone else's, too.

President Barack Obama will nominate Harvard economist Jeremy Stein and Jerome Powell, an investment banker and former Treasury official, to the two empty seats on the Federal Reserve's policy-setting board of governors.