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By Jim Christie SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Hard-hit California faces new, deep cuts in education and thousands of state layoffs after voters soundly defeated ballot measures to bolster the state's finances, leaving Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers with a budget gap of more than $21 billion. Already struggling with double-digit unemployment and a housing crisis, Schwarzenegger  ...

By Kim Dixon WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. agency that insures traditional corporate pensions posted a record $33.5 billion deficit for the first half of fiscal 2009 and sees substantial underfunding in plans by automakers, airlines and some other industries, its acting director will tell Congress later on Wednesday. Although most private companies with pension plans backed by the  ...

By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - Army-ruled Myanmar opened the trial of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday in an apparent bid to calm growing international outrage at the regime and its latest crackdown on the Nobel Peace laureate. Suu Kyi appeared healthy and confident during the 45-minute hearing watched by some 30 diplomats and a handful of Burmese journalists on th ...

By Zahra Hosseinian and Fredrik Dahl TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran launched a missile with a range of close to 2,000 km (1,200 miles) on Wednesday and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the Islamic state could send any attacker "to hell," official media reported. The stated range of the surface-to-surface Sejil 2 missile would be almost as far as another Iranian missile, Shahab 3, and anal ...

By Robert Birsel ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani soldiers have nearly cleared Taliban fighters from a district 100 km (60 miles) from the capital in heavy fighting in which the militants have suffered heavy casualties, the military said. Fighting in the Swat valley and the neighboring districts of Buner and Dir has forced about 1.4 million people from their homes on top of about 550, ...

By Jim Christie SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers will likely face the arduous task of closing a state budget gap in excess of $21 billion with a clutch of ballot measures aimed at bolstering the state's finances poised for defeat. The Republican governor last week said the government of the most populous U.S. state faced a shortfall of $15 ...

By Olivia Rondonuwu JAKARTA (Reuters) - An Indonesian military transport plane carrying more than 100 people on board crashed and burst into flames in East Java on Wednesday, killing at least 97 people, a disaster official said. The C-130 Hercules aircraft plowed into several houses on the ground, scattering debris and sending flames and billowing smoke into the air, TV footage showe ...

By Caren Bohan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A high-level panel of experts that has been helping to shape President Barack Obama's response to the economic crisis will step into the public view on Wednesday at a meeting to discuss energy issues and job creation. Obama announced the creation of the 16-member Economic Recovery Advisory Board, led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcke ...

By Emily Chasan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Some auto dealers that Chrysler LLC plans to close are beginning a challenge to the automaker's plans to quickly sell itself in bankruptcy. The group, which calls itself the "Committee of Chrysler Affected Dealers," filed papers on Tuesday asking the bankruptcy court to delay hearings that would approve the sale and allow Chrysler to reject almost ...

By Andrew Gray WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military command that trains Afghan forces, a key part of Washington's war strategy, lacks the capacity to oversee multimillion-dollar contracts it has awarded, a watchdog reported on Tuesday. The Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan is responsible for programs worth some $15 billion to develop Afghan security forces so they  ...