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California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled a new budget plan for California on Friday, claiming that the Californian economy faces growth and budget problems like eurozone countries such as Greece and Ireland. Schwarzenegger said in a Sacramento press conference that California must cut spending to US$12.4 billion. To achieve this goal, the governor proposed cutting the CalWorks welfare system; however, state lawmakers quickly rejected this. Schwarzenegger said cutting the state welfare system for low-income families would save the st

The VI Congress of Mayors and Councilors of the O'Higgins Region, as part of the program of annual activities of the Chilean Association of Municipalities, is taking place in Pichilemu, Chile. It began last Thursday and will end today. The congress is discussing the main topic, regional reconstruction, as well as how to manage setbacks in education, homes and health for each municipality. The event was attended by almost 300 regional authorities and a Brazilian delegation that viewed the work of the mayors in the region, in addition to the R

Google revealed late yesterday that it had mistakenly collected information about Internet sites people had visited on public Wi-Fi networks. The admission came from Google engineering head Alan Eustace in the form of a blog post on Friday afternoon. In the statement, Google said that it had been unknowingly gathering the personal data for over three years through its Street View photo-mapping feature. The discovery was made during internal investigation resulting from earlier concerns by German regulators over the issue. Two weeks ago, Google

A prominent Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzón, has been suspended from his post by Spain's General Council of the Judiciary. The suspension comes after Spain's Supreme Court ruled that an inquiry Garzón opened in 2008 into crimes committed during Spain's civil war, which lasted from 1936 to 1939. The events are covered by an amnesty from 1977, and it is charged that Garzón abused his powers by opening the investigation. Garzón appealed the ruling, claiming that had conducted a legitimate inquiry, as crimes against humanity had been conducted du

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday that its board has approved a loan package worth US$1.13 billion to be granted to Pakistan. The move came after the IMF reviewed Pakistan's economic performance with a standby arrangement worth $11.3 billion aimed at improving the country's balance of payments. According to a statement by the fund, disbursements have reached $7.27 billion from the plan. The IMF described Pakistan's economic situation as having improved in spite of "adverse security developments and a rapidly changing politi

Italy today fined the Irish airline Ryanair three million euros over the airline's failure to assist passengers after their flights were canceled due to volcanic ash last month. According to the civil aviation authority of Italy, ENAC, there were 178 cases of passengers not receiving mandatory assistance, such as accommodations and food, after Ryanair canceled their flights. Such assistance is required by European regulations to be given to passengers who have chosen to be re-routed. ENAC noted that despite the situation, most other European

Jessica Watson, a 16-year-old Australian, became the youngest person to sail around the world unassisted and alone when she arrived in Sydney Harbor earlier today. Watson, from Buderim, Queensland, departed from Sydney October 18, last year. In 210 days, she traveled by herself for over 23,000 nautical miles on a 34-foot (10.4m) yacht, called Ella's Pink Lady. Watson completed her journey days before her seventeenth birthday. When Watson neared land, a large assortment of other watercraft began to parade alongside her yacht. She was greeted b

James Ibori, a former Nigerian governor, has been arrested in Dubai on corruption charges. Ibori was the governor of Delta State from 1999 until 2007. He has been accused of stealing US$290m (£196m). As well as being wanted by Nigeria's EFCC anti-corruption agency and by law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom. London's Metropolitian Police released a statement saying that Ibori had been arrested at the United Kingdom's request on suspicion of money-laundering and conspiracy to defraud. The Met added that they are seeking extradition t

Three people suspected of involvement in a bomb attack on the Moscow Metro system have been killed after a confrontation with police in the city. The attacks, carried out on March 29, killed at least 40 people and wounded over 100. According to a statement released by Alexander Bortnikov of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the suspects were killed in "an attempt to detain three members of an illegal group. To our great regret, we were unable to detain them alive because they put up fierce armed resistance and were killed." One of t

A string of anti-government protests in Bangkok yesterday resulted in at least one fatality, numerous others injured, and the temporary closure of several foreign embassies in Thailand. Philip Crowley, a spokesperson for the US State Department, announced early Thursday morning that the US embassy would be closed to the public due to its location near the violence. The embassy will be operating with a reduced staff and will not offer American citizens services until the conflict is resolved. The British and Dutch embassies in Thailand also ha

Russian president Dmitriy Medvedev met with the Khaled Meshaal, leader of the Hamas group, earlier this week in Syria, prompting criticism from Israel. Medvedev, during the meeting, had encouraged Hamas to reconciliate with rival Fatah; a spokeswoman quoted him as saying that "no one" should be left out of the peace process. He also requested that an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in 2006, Gilad Shalit, be released, although this was refused by Hamas, who says that Shalit wouldn't be released unless there was an "honourable" prisoner excha

A Russian citizen identified as Gennady Sipachyov has been convicted of "state treason in the form of espionage" and was sentenced to four years in a Russian maximum-security prison. According to the Russian intelligence agency Federal Security Service (FSB), Sipachyov was found guilty of giving the American government classified military maps, which can be used to target American missiles against targets in Russia more accurately. According to the FSB, the exchange of of information occurred in 2008, when Sipachyov emailed the documents to a