MICHIGAN

A federal judge said on Thursday he would approve the bankruptcy plan for Old GM, wrapping up one of the most complex Chapter 11 cases in U.S. history and paving the way for a distribution of General Motors stock and warrants to creditors.

Fleeing after years of war in Iraq, many refugees arriving in the United States can't find the jobs they need to rebuild their lives. Unemployment among Iraqi refugees is estimated at nearly three times the national average of 9 percent, and up to 2,000 of those who arrived in the past four years may have left for other countries.

The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless aid hit the lowest level in more than 2-1/2 years last week and service sector hiring picked up in February, signs the labor market recovery was quickening. Another report on Thursday confirmed business productivity picked up a bit in the fourth quarter

Planned job cuts in the U.S rose sharply in February to reach an 11-month high, a nation-wide survey of employers revealed.

Futures on major U.S. stock indices remained range-bound on Friday ahead of economic data including key GDP figures from the government.

Researchers at the University of Michigan have created the world's smallest computer - a new millimeter-scale computing system that can hold up to a week's worth of information.

Ford Motors will recall 144,000 F-150 pickup trucks in the U.S. and Canada for potential airbag problems, the carmaker said in a statement.

Researchers have developed what is believed to be the first complete millimeter-scale computing system, designed to be implanted into the human eye to track the progress of glaucoma, a potentially blinding disorder.

The following is a transcript of a nearly 20 minute conversation on February 22, 2011 between Ian Murphy, a columnist for the website known as The Buffalo Beast, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Murphy was posing as conservative activist David Koch.

Test-prep major Princeton Review, in collaboration with USA Today, has released its annual list of 50 private and 50 public colleges in the nation that are considered to offer best value in terms of academic strength, affordability and financial aid availability.

Investors are likely to focus on major economic data to be released during the week to gauge the strength of recovery in the world’s largest economy. The main focus will be housing and economic activity, while rising Middle East tensions are expected to weigh on markets.

The report shows that while healthcare employment rose 6.3 percent, employment in other sectors fell by 6.8 percent cumulatively in the period from December 2007.

It's a case involving a singer and YouTube video which has parents livid, prosecutors pushing for 20 years of jail time, and some Facebook users calling for a much lighter punishment, or nothing at all.

Michigan Governor Rich Snyder on Thursday unveiled a plan that includes $1.8 billion in budget cuts and seeks to replace the state's business tax with a flat 6 percent corporate income tax.

Indian technology companies are now looking to hire fresh engineering graduates from American universities, as stringent immigration norms and high unemployment in the US make local hiring attractive, said a media report.

General Motors Co (GM.N) will pay its 45,000 hourly workers in the United States a bonus of at least $4,000 each, the automaker said on Monday. The average employee payout will be finalized by the end of February. The payments will be doled out on March 25, a company spokeswoman said.

The second largest U.S. bookstore chain Borders Group Inc. (NYSE: BGP) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as its book sales started sinking in 2008, 2009, and in each quarter of 2010 even after management changes, job cuts and debt restructuring.

The United States plans to build high-speed 4G wireless services network and make it available to at least 98 percent of Americans households by 2016, President Barrack Obama said during a speech at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan.

For the first time, Google Inc. is celebrating American inventor Thomas Alva Edison's 164th birthday on February 11 with a new still moving doodle logo on its classic homepage featuring some of his best inventions.

President Obama announced his latest wireless Internet initiative, which aims to cover 98 percent of Americans.

A bipartisan group of 101 lawmakers in the House of Representatives launched a new bid on Thursday to pass legislation aimed at pressuring China to let its yuan currency rise in value.