California voters gave Arnold Schwarzenegger a single, blockbuster-sized mission when they sent him to Sacramento six years ago in an unprecedented election: Fix California’s chaotic budget system, once and for all.

In this tiny town on Wyoming’s northern plains, workers feed large piles of aromatic pine chips into a labyrinth of pipes and tanks that process the wood into 200-proof liquid ethanol.

The economic downturn is allowing Malaysia’s leader to chip away at an affirmative action program for Malay Muslims that has been considered virtually untouchable in the past.

The Founding Fathers left one legacy not celebrated on Independence Day but which affects us all. It’s the national debt.

The Founding Fathers left one legacy not celebrated on Independence Day but which affects us all. It’s the national debt.

Mexico’s treasury secretary says the country’s economy is expected to shrink by 5.5 percent in 2009. The world economic crisis drove Mexico’s economy to contract by 8.2 percent in the first quarter of 2009, prompting the government to officially declare the worst recession since the so-called Tequila Crisis of 1995.

Gov. Mark Parkinson appears unlikely to face much trouble persuading legislative leaders to allow a fresh round of internal borrowing so that Kansas can pay its bills on time in coming weeks.

Canada’s finance minister said Friday that the country’s economic recovery will likely be modest and job losses will mount into 2010 even after growth has begun.

Oil dropped a dollar to below $66 a barrel on Friday after unemployment data hardened views economic weakness would sap energy demand and that last month’s rally was overdone.

Wall Street may be down on its luck, but China’s growing business hub, Shanghai, plans to install its own version of the Street’s famed charging bull statue, casting in metal its hopes to eventually rival New York.