US lawmakers are returning to work on New Year's Eve for the first time in more than 40 years in a final attempt to reach a deal to avert a fiscal calamity set to hit the world economy within hours.

US President Barack Obama blamed a Republican refusal to raise taxes on the rich for the "fiscal cliff" crisis as top lawmakers haggled in a desperate end-of-year search for a stop-gap deal.

With the clock ticking toward a New Year's time bomb of huge tax increases and spending cuts, US lawmakers rushed Saturday to keep America from tumbling off the so-called fiscal cliff.

US President Barack Obama on Saturday urged Congress to protect the middle class from an income tax increase and lay the groundwork for future economic growth as Senate leaders began work to avoid a "fiscal cliff".

The NHL has made a new "comprehensive" contract proposal to players, the latest bid to end the lockout that threatens to force the cancellation of the entire season.

President Barack Obama Friday sought a late deal to stop the US economy tumbling off a "fiscal cliff" next week, gathering top congressional leaders for crunch White House talks.

Specialist doctors in Madrid lifted an indefinite strike Friday after failing to prevent a plan to privatize the management of hospitals and health care centres in the region.

A looming labor shutdown of ports on the US East Coast was averted Friday when federal mediators helped workers and shippers reach a breakthrough on a key issue in deadlocked contract talks.

Outgoing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who fell ill in early December and hasn't been seen in public since, will be back at her desk on Monday, her closest aide said.

Outgoing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who fell ill in early December and hasn't been seen in public since, continues to rest at home, her closest aide said Thursday.

The "fiscal cliff" is a combination of dramatic spending cuts and tax increases mandated to take effect beginning in January if President Barack Obama and Republicans cannot bridge their differences on how best to reduce the nation's budget deficit and debt.

US jobless claims fell by 12,000 last week, according to government data released Thursday -- figures that were better than expected, but which were affected by the Christmas holiday.

Cambodian rights campaigners on Thursday condemned the sentencing of two men to 20 years in prison for the 2004 murder of a prominent labour leader, saying they appeared to be scapegoats.

Tea plantation workers torched the home of their boss, killing both him and his wife, following a labour dispute in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, officials said on Thursday.

In Copenhagen's central station, thousands of Swedes step off the train each morning to head for jobs that many say they could not be found on the Swedish side of the border.

Strike action heavily disrupted London's Underground train network on Wednesday, as hundreds of thousands of bargain hunters headed to the shops for the traditional Boxing Day sales.

National Hockey League players and club owners reached the 100th day of the league's shutdown over money issues Monday with no talks planned and shrinking hope to salvage even a shortened season.

South Africa's ruling ANC did not sound much like a revolutionary movement of the political left at its party conference this week.

South Africa's ruling ANC did not sound much like a revolutionary movement of the political left at its party conference this week.

After losing one public sector IT job and then another in austerity-hit Spain, Thierry Perello decided to seek his fortune in one of the few remaining bright spots on the European map: Switzerland.