Your customized headlines for Wed, May 2, 2012

MADRID — The tens of thousands of unionists who clogged this city's grand boulevards on a rainy May Day all had their story — of jobs lost or social benefits trimmed, of anger at government policies they insist are making things worse.

The Treasury Department is expected to announce Wednesday whether it will begin issuing a new type of federal debt for the first time in 15 years — a reflection of the global interest in storing cash in the United States and of the government's desire to avoid unexpected disruptions in its ability to borrow.

The news just keeps getting worse for media baron Rupert Murdoch.

In a scathingly worded report growing out of the long-running British phone-tapping scandal, a parliamentary committee on Tuesday declared Murdoch "not a fit person" to run a major company — an embarrassing decree that has no immediate effect but further darkens the cloud over Murdoch's British media operations.

Officials at government-backed mortgage giant Fannie Mae concluded years ago that the company could "reduce its losses substantially" by lowering loan amounts for some troubled borrowers, according to internal documents cited Tuesday by the top Democrat on the House oversight committee.

The Labor Department on Tuesday ordered Wal-Mart to pay $4.8 million in back wages and damages to thousands of employees who were denied overtime charges, the latest in a string of embarrassments for the company over its business practices.

The Treasury Department is expected to announce Wednesday whether it will begin issuing a new type of federal debt for the first time in 15 years — a reflection of the global interest in storing cash in the United States and of the government's desire to avoid unexpected disruptions in its ability to borrow.

— Turns out sunsets in Mars are blue.

— Atheists and agnostics seem to know more about religion than anyone else, according to a Pew survey.

— NPR discovers that non-profit hospitals are stingy with charity health care.

Coal exports, a favorite topic here at Wonkblog, have become a hot environmental issue of late. Coal use is shrinking in the United States thanks (in part) to cheap natural gas. So coal companies are building terminals in the Pacific Northwest to ship their surplus coal to places like China.

Of the more negative responses to today's column, the one that's been most common was the one I was least prepared for: The Bush economy, my correspondents say, was actually pretty good! As one reader e-mailed, "A stock market bordering 14,000, gas prices around $2-2.5/gal, a deficit in the low billions, an unemployment rate of 5-6% . . . oh, how horrible."

The one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden has occasioned a fierce political debate about the appropriateness of President Obama's reelection campaign touting the death for their partisan benefit.