Legal

Officials hope to find a way to slow the annual rise in state contributions to government pensions; a 20-percent-larger, $5.1-billion input is needed this year.

Canada's Conservative government said Thursday that it is raising the retirement age to 67 from 65 for pension benefits as the finance minister introduced a federal budget features the biggest cutbacks since the mid-1990s.

2011 represented a record funding deficit for pension plans at companies holding America's largest defined benefit plan assets. That hole is expected to get larger in 2012.

New Hampshire's House has voted to create a new public pension system for employees, operating more like a 401(k) plan than a traditional pension.

Poland's two governing parties agreed Thursday on a plan to raise the full retirement age to 67, though the pro-market prime minister had to accept a watering down of his ambitious pension overhaul to placate his junior partner.

Fiduciary proponents wince as the DOL appears poised to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.