No CLASS, fiduciary reboot, and how the flu is infecting employers profits.

Three free trade agreements that have spent years in political limbo could finally be on a path toward congressional action with a Senate vote Thursday to assure that American workers who lose their jobs to foreign competition can get retraining and aid.

Investors began giving in to fears Thursday that a global recession is already under way, and stock markets shuddered around the world. Selling started in Asia, picked up speed in Europe and sent Wall Street near its worst finish of the year.

Nurses in red union shirts carried signs and chanted slogans outside dozens of Northern and Central California hospitals on Thursday as part of a one-day strike over benefit cuts and other concessions sought by hospital management.