City attorney Frank "Butch" Ellis received a letter from Justice Department officials requesting more information about the racial makeup of the city. City leaders have been supplying information to the department since August. The Justice Department has objected to the city's new election districts, which were used in the Aug. 26 municipal election, because the new plan eliminated the city's sole district with a majority of minorities.

The Fairfield City Council approved a 1 percent occupational tax on Thursday night, giving Mayor Kenneth Coachman some breathing room in a financially troubled environment. "This is what I need right now in order to move our city forward," Coachman said after the council approved the measure 5-0, with two abstentions.

Gov. Bob Riley responded today to a union chief's criticism of Alabama's incentives for automakers, saying "great workers making great products is a proven recipe for success...and it doesn't require a bailout." The back-and-forth between Riley and Ron Gettelfinger, president of the United Auto Workers, is part of the escalating rhetoric surrounding the controversial proposal to bail out the Detroit-based Big Three automakers.

BERLIN: The European Union should make around 40 bn euros (50 bn dollars) in loans available to the continent's ailing auto sector, the head of Ford Germany said in comments published on Friday. Bernhard Mattes said such assistance would not be state aid but was "in order to allow all European carmakers the possibility to meet EU requirements on fuel efficiency and emissions etc more quickly." "This is money that has interest on it and that has to be paid back, so not a gift," Mattes said.

AT FIRST glance Citigroup, a giant of American banking, and Wolseley, a British firm that makes building products, have little in common. The former is part of the plumbing of the global financial system; the latter is the world’s biggest distributor of pipes, bathroom fittings and other plumbing paraphernalia. Yet both have found themselves on the rapidly growing list of victims of the global economic turmoil. 

MOSCOW, October 20 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian economy is well prepared to deal with shocks on global markets, the prime minister said on Monday at a meeting of the foreign investment council presidium. "Our economy is sufficiently prepared for ...

Kyiv has an eerie feeling. The many construction projects have come to a sudden halt. A couple of weeks ago, cranes were turning all over the skyline of Ukraine`s capital ...