Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti has slashed pensions, begun a broad economic restructuring and agreed to a European treaty that tightens fiscal controls — all in the name of proving his country is serious about controlling debt.

State and federal officials could announce as soon as Thursday a landmark settlement with five of the nation’s banks over their flawed and fraudulent foreclosure practices, people close to the situation said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is widely expected to approve on Thursday a construction and operating license for new nuclear power reactors for the first time since 1978, giving Southern Co. the green light to build two new units at its existing Vogtle site in Georgia.

Privacy advocates on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit aimed at forcing government officials to punish Google over alleged privacy violations.

In the complaint, the Electronic Privacy and Information Center said Google’s plans to tie together data of users across services beginning March 1 violates a settlement agreement the company struck with the Federal Trade Commission last summer over a separate privacy controversy.

The U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service are trying to make it easier for overseas banks to comply with a tax-withholding and information-collection requirement for some U.S. clients.

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Protesters plan to descend on Apple stores around the world, including in Washington, on Thursday to protest labor conditions in the company’s manufacturing facilities in China.

The issue has become a thorny one for Apple after the factories that make its products experienced explosions in 2011 and worker suicides in 2010. A recent report in The New York Times contained graphic descriptions of cramped working conditions and the voices of workers who said they were suffering injuries from repetitive motion and exposure to chemicals.

A scaled-back ethics bill headed toward likely passage in the House on Thursday despite complaints from senators that Republican leaders had jettisoned several key provisions that won overwhelming Senate support last week.

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The Washington Post announced Wednesday that it would extend buyout offers to newsroom staff members in an effort to reduce the paper’s payroll. It is the fifth in a series of buyouts that have helped reduce the size of the staff by more than a third over the past decade as circulation and advertising revenue have fallen.

Donald J. Trump is getting a Pennsylvania Avenue address in Washington, it just won’t be 1600.

The federal government announced Tuesday that the New York real estate magnate’s hotel company has been selected to turn Washington’s Old Post Office Pavilion into a luxury getaway.