WESTWOOD (CBSLA.com) — Thousands of University of California employees and students were expected to take part in protests at campuses statewide on Thursday over what one workers’ union alleges to be skyrocketing executive compensation.

Roughly 22,000 workers at all 10 UC campuses and five medical centers planned to rally against the compensation package for outgoing UC president Mark Yudof, who union officials said will earn a $230,000 annual pension after five years of service with an …

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President Obama laid out his plans for immigration reform on Tuesday to a Las Vegas crowd of supporters. Obama took cues for his proposal from a bipartisan coalition of eight senators saying that “the differences are dwindling” between the Right and Left on immigration.

Among the so called “Gang of Eight” senators who helped set the framework for the proposal were Republicans John McCain and …

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Three weeks after Gov. Jerry Brown declared the state’s prison overcrowding crisis over, a court of three federal judges said Tuesday that state officials can have six more months to reduce the inmate population to the previously ordered level.

The judges noted that California officials have said they cannot meet the court’s June 30 deadline for reducing its population to 137.5 percent of design capacity, but the officials believe they can hit that mark by …

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Gen Rios Montt will face charges of crimes against humanity in connection with the killing of 1,771 indigenous Mayans during his rule in 1982-1983.

Prosecutors said he wanted to wipe out the indigenous group, which he suspected of supporting rebel fighters.

Gen Rios Montt, 86, is the first ex-president to be charged with genocide by a Latin American court.

The ruling clears the way for a three-judge to try the former president and another former military man, Jose …

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Russia is scrapping a decade-long agreement with the U.S. on cooperation in law enforcement and drug control, the second move within a week reflecting worsening ties between the former Cold War foes.

The accord “doesn’t correspond to present-day realities and has exhausted its potential,” according to an order published on the government’s website today and signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

Relations have worsened since Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency last year with disputes over U.S. …

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Egyptian Prosecutor-General Talaat Abdallah on Tuesday ordered the arrest of all members of the anti-state ‘Black Bloc’ group, which has made its appearance in recent anti-government demonstrations and disrupted traffic and Cairo’s Metro line.

Abdallah directed police and Egypt’s armed forces to arrest anyone suspected of being affiliated with the group. He also urged citizens to provide any information they have about the group or its members and assist in their arrest by authorities.

Charges were brought …

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During one of many anti-austerity protests last summer, more than 1,000 people rallied to oppose the Philadelphia District’s plans to “transform schools,” a pleasant euphemism generally meaning school closures and mass layoffs. The Philly district planned to lay off 2,700 blue-collar workers, including every member of the SEIU 32BJ Local 1201, the city school union representing bus assistants, cleaners, mechanics, and other workers.

In late July, the School Reform Commission scrapped those plans and approved a …

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The National Rifle Association will appear Wednesday at the first congressional hearings on gun violence in the wake of Newtown – at the invitation of Democrats.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy invited the group to testify alongside Mark Kelly, whose wife, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was shot at a Tucson supermarket in 20 while she was greeting constituents.

The NRA strategy, at least according to prepared testimony, remains the same as it has since 20 children …

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(Reuters) – At least 65 people were found shot dead with their hands bound in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Tuesday in a “new massacre” in the near two-year revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, activists said.

Opposition campaigners blamed the government but it was impossible to confirm who was responsible. Assad’s forces and rebels have been battling in Syria’s commercial hub since July and both have been accused of carrying out summary executions.

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After a group of bipartisan senators unveiled a plan to grant legal status to an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., California farmers lauded Monday’s announcement, saying it would help farmers more easily hire farmhands.

Farmers in the state have for years lobbied for immigration reform, citing difficulties in hiring labor to pick produce and do other farmwork.

Paul Wenger, president of the California Farm Bureau, the largest farm organization in the state, welcomed the …

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