Spain unemployment tops 17 percent

Spain’s jobless rate rose sharply, to 17.36 percent in the first quarter, with just over 4 million people out of work, the government said Friday. Nearly half of the 4 million lost their jobs in the past year, the National Statistics Institute said. It’s the first time that Spain’s number of jobless have exceeded 4 million, economist Carlos Maravall told CNN

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Q&A: Taliban influence weakens Pakistan

Taliban advances in Pakistan are raising concerns in Islamabad and capitals as far away as Washington. How is the Taliban extending its influence in Pakistan It has extended its considerably over the last few years moving northwards along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, from South Waziristan to North Waziristan to Bajur and across now to Swat and Buner. But the Taliban has also extended its influence because it is now involved with several Punjab terrorist groups that have affiliated themselves with the border Taliban and have helped commit some attacks such as one on a police station in Lahore.

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U.S. says it will await appeals of alleged Nazi war criminal

The Justice Department has promised an appeals court that federal agents will not deport a Nazi war crimes suspect to Germany through at least April 30, even if the court lifts the stay that prevents the removal. In a letter to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Justice Department said it is prepared to ensure the necessary time for legal appeals to play out in the case of John Demjanjuk

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GM recalling 1.5 million cars over fire fears

The possibility of engine fires has prompted General Motors to recall nearly 1.5 million passenger sedans manufactured between 1997 and 2003, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Monday. The recall covers certain mid- and full-size passenger sedans under GM’s Chevrolet, Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac brands.

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Venezuela: Chavez says he’s willing to take Gitmo inmates

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he would be willing to accept prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention center, which U.S. President Barack Obama has said he will close, the Venezuelan government said Thursday. Chavez also said he hopes the United States will give Cuba back the land on which the naval base is located, the government said in a news release.

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China Says ‘Keep Out’ to Coca-Cola

China has picked a strange time to lay down a marker in defense of economic nationalism — and an even stranger industry in which to do it. Amid a global recession, with Beijing’s state-owned companies fanning out across the globe trying to invest in or buy foreign producers of minerals, precious metals, oil and gas, China’s Ministry of Commerce on March 18 formally blocked what would have been the largest acquisition by a foreign company in China, a $2.4 billion deal

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