In the wake of deadly attacks aimed at United Nations workers, in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, the organizations has begun relocating hundreds of foreign staff members into better security situations. After operating in Afghanistan for 50 years with very little violence against its workers, the UN has been forced to review its security strategy for so many vulnerable aid workers. If the UN can’t operate safely in Afghanistan is there any hope of long-term stability?

Half of all workers in the U.S. today are women, and for the first time a woman is the primary or co-breadwinner in two-thirds of American families. In spite of their numbers and influence, women still aren’t earning on the same level as men (women earn 77 cents on the dollar, compared with wages earned by men) and just 15 Fortune 500 companies were headed by women last year. Will companies and the government step into the breach to make sure women are getting their fair share in the workplace?

He’s a Nobel Prize winner in literature; the author most recently of The Museum of Innocence; and a Turk who acknowledges what many call the Armenian Genocide—the killing of 30,000 Kurds and 1 million Armenians from 1915-1923. Orhan Pamuk faced a criminal trial in his homeland for those remarks and he talks with Patt about the divides and dialogues he writes about between East and West.

He’s not officially the chief until the city council says so, but Charlie Beck is the mayor’s choice to be the next police chief of the city of Los Angeles. He sits down with Patt to talk about how he’ll lead—similarly to Bratton—with a bottom-up approach. What Bratton-era policies will be continued and how will he leave his own legacy on the LAPD?

Worker productivity rose by 9.5% in the third quarter this year, as employees are working harder and longer to pick up for the slack of their laid-off colleagues. You might think, “This should result in higher wages for those of us still employed.” You’d be wrong—wages remain flat or falling. Good news for companies, who are squeezing more out of their employees, is bad news for both employed and unemployed workers. With the national unemployment rate set to jump past 10% tomorrow, where’s the relief for the American worker?

Animal shelters were over burdened before the economic downturn and as the recession rages on many are being forced to forsake the family pet. In L.A. City & County, animal shelters have moved to the bottom of the priority list for already scarce funding. In honor of National Animal Shelter Appreciation week we discuss how to help pets survive the recession.