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• The New York Times reported Sunday that Pakistan's government has allowed members of its spy network to meet with members of the Taliban, the Sunni Islamist group that ran Afghanistan for five years until 2001 when they were ousted by the United States. The Taliban currently is trying to regain its foothold in Afghanistan.
  
  Pakistan receives more than $1 billion a year in aid from Washington to help combat militants, according to documents cited by the New York Times. The organization WikiLeaks, a whistle-blower website, made the documents available.

NEWARK — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have fined 13 employers in New Jersey nearly $640,000 for hiring undocumented workers, part of the Obama administration's increased focus on targeting businesses that fail to ensure their employees are eligible to work in the U.S.

Federal checks could begin flowing again as early as next week to millions of jobless people who lost up to seven weeks of unemployment benefits in a congressional standoff.

President Barack Obama on Thursday signed into law a restoration of benefits for people who have been out of work for six months or more. Congress approved the measure earlier in the day. The move ended an interruption that cut off payments averaging about $300 a week to 2½ million people who have been unable to find work in the aftermath of the nation's long and deep recession.