Massive strike paralyzes Greece

Athens, Greece (News Today) - Planes stood still and train services ground to a halt Wednesday as transport workers in Greece joined other public and private sector workers in a second day of demonstrations.

The unions that organized the general strike expected tens of thousands of workers -- teachers, bank employees and doctors, among them -- to amass in central Athens and then march to the parliament building.

Police deployed about 1,700 officers throughout the capital to maintain order.

The workers are protesting cuts in spending that the government says is needed to pull the country out of debt.

The country's parliament is expected to vote on the measures -- which include wage freezes and higher taxes -- by the end of Thursday.

On the first day of the strike, about 2,000 protesters representing teachers from the public sector marched past the finance ministry and parliament on Tuesday.

In central Athens, protesters threw plastic bottles and sticks at riot police.

At another demonstration, members of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) erected large banners near the Parthenon. "People of Europe Rise Up," said one.

A 110 billion euro ($145 billion) aid package for Greece was announced Sunday. Soon after, Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou announced the tough cost-cutting measures to meet European Union and International Monetary Fund conditions on the deal.

The package includes a promise by Greece to cut its budget deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product, as required by European Union rules, by 2014, according to Papaconstantinou.

The measures, he said, were needed for Greece to secure its financial lifeline.

Greece has a choice between "destruction" and survival, and "we have chosen of course to save the country," Papaconstantinou said.

Source : CNN

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Officials to discuss Census participation

(News Terupdate) - The army of U.S. Census Bureau personnel poised to fan out across the country will find out Wednesday approximately how many doors they're going to be knocking on to complete this year's nationwide survey.

Census Director Robert Groves is scheduled to announce at 1 p.m. ET how well Americans responded by mail to the once-a-decade census, and thereby how many homes need to be contacted directly by census workers in an effort than begins in May.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced that as of Tuesday night, 72 percent of U.S. households that were sent the census survey had mailed back, matching the rate achieved during the last census in 2000, and with some late-mail arrivals expected in coming days.

Midwestern states have turned in the highest participation rates, according to the bureau, with Wisconsin leading the country with an 80 percent rate. Minnesota follows with a 79 percent rate, then Iowa and Indiana with 77 percent and Nebraska at 76 percent.

The U.S. Census Bureau has chalked up vast array of numbers regarding the 2010 census and its importance: more than $400 billion in federal funds allocated based in part on the census, 134 million "housing units" contacted, 13.5 million bilingual (English/Spanish) questionnaires delivered in selected neighborhoods, and so on.

But there is one that cuts to the bottom line of census business:

It costs the government 42 cents for each response that comes back via mailed census form, while it costs the government an estimated $57 per household to obtain responses in person.

The latter figure can vary, according to the number of times census workers have to come knocking to get a response, the bureau says.

Taken on a grander scale, taxpayers would save $1.5 billion if everyone completed and mailed back the census questionnaire instead of requiring the hiring, training and dispatching of that army of census workers, the bureau says.

One bright economic light in all the census statistics, especially in these economically stressful times: the bureau is hiring an estimated 870,000 temporary workers as part of the 1.2 million field positions needed to conduct census operations this year.

That's more than the population of Alaska, North Dakota, Vermont or Wyoming.

Job information is available at the census Web site.

Source : CNN

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