The economy shrank at its fastest rate for more than 50 years in the first quarter of 2009, with output down 2.4 per cent — much worse than estimated. Output had been estimated to fall to 1.9 per cent, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
The decline in the first three months of the year equals a 2.4 per cent slump seen in 1974 and is the worst since a 2.6 per cent fall seen in 1958.
The recession also began earlier than expected, with a 0.1 per cent decline seen between April and June last year compared with previous estimates of zero growth.
Following the revision — which also saw a deeper 1.8 per cent decline in the final quarter of 2008 — the UK’s output is now 4.9 per cent below the level seen before the recession.
Our comrades in Turkey at the previously state-owned tobacco and alcohol concern have been in struggle for months, despite massive repression, against wage-cuts, the loss of contractual and social rights and the loss of jobs. Two of the strikers report on their struggle.
Monday 21st June, 19:30
Galerie Kraftwerk — Rungestr. 20 — 10179 Berlin — Mitte (S-Bahnhof Jannowitzbrücke or U-Bahn Heinrich-Heine- Straße)
We’re publishing three texts, from Revolutionary Perspectives 54, which has just been published. The issue also includes articles on
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IRAN AND THE BOMB: ‘It is unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapons capability. We’ve got to be prepared to confront them, if necessary militarily’
On Wednesday night, he was attending a banquet before the first face-to-face talks between Israel and Palestinian leadmoreers, which start tomorrow in Washington.
His statements will strengthen the case of Israeli and U.S. hard-liners who believe an air strike against Iran will be necessary during the next year. Read more: dailymail.co.uk
In its annual report to Congress on China’s military, the Defense Department said that the People’s Liberation Army is advancing across the board commensurate with China’s burgeoning economic power. Coincidentally, the report was issued a day after China’s economy was recognized as the world’s second biggest, eclipsing Japan’s in size during the second quarter of this year.
China broke off most military ties with the United States this year after the Obama administration approved the sale of $6.4 billion worth of arms to Taiwan. Since then, high-ranking Chinese military officers have lambasted the United States and its policies in Asia in unusually harsh language.
Extracts from washingtonpost.com
The Mail on Sunday newspaper claimed the former Labour prime minister’s team of bodyguards cost the taxpayer more than £250,000 per year on expenses alone.
An investigation by the paper revealed details on the cost of providing round-the-clock protection for Mr Blair as he took holidays and international business trips.
The paper reveals claims of more than £1,200-a-night for accommodation in hotels, limousine hire and thousands of pounds in cash for overseas trips.
The investigation lists a series of holidays including a two-week break Blair took in Borneo, where officers ran up a bill of more than £20,000
Metro workers in Athens have decided to strike for a third continuing day in response to the lay-off threat to 286 colleagues last week. Meanwhile the Greek government is unveiling labour relations sweeping changes.
Honda Motor Co employees in China on Thursday threatened another strike over a salary dispute. The staff temporarily returned to work on Wednesday at the plant in Foshan, southern China, after a strike that had halted Honda production in the country.
Spain’s civil servants have gone on strike to protest at salary cuts as part of a plan to rein in a ballooning public deficit that has rattled global financial markets.
Unions for more than two million public workers, ranging from doctors to street cleaners, called the strike after plans to save another 15bn euros (£12bn) were unveiled
The austerity measures — intended to avoid an international rescue package like the one provided to Greece — include average cuts this year to public workers’ salaries of 5%.
They are on top of 50bn euro cuts in January designed to slash the public deficit from 11.2% last year — the third largest in the eurozone behind Greece and Ireland.
Protesters angry at Ireland’s multi-billion efforts to bail out its banks have tried to storm the entrance of the Irish parliament and several have been injured in scuffles with police.
The Mexican Ministry of defense says over 100 000 soldiers have deserted from the army in recent years.
They do not know how many have joined the drug gangs.
Gangs like the Zetas, who began when between 31-67 soldiers from the Army special Forces joined the Gulf Cartel, offer well paid employment to the soldiers asigned to the US-Mexica border.
Deaths related to the drugs trade are officially recorded at over 22 700 since December 06 when the current President Felipe Calderon came to power.
A massive wildcat general strike of nearly 20,000 auto, steel, port and public health workers is in its twelth day and is spreading across Algeria, amid repeated pitched battles with thousands of cops and security forces. Workers are also defying the ban on public rallies and demonstrations, stemming from a “state of emergency” declared by the government in the early 1990s. Strikers are demanding a wage hike and changes in the minimum wage and tax laws. They’re also denouncing the sweetheart deal signed by their unions which raises the retirement age from 50 to 60 for workers doing difficult and dangerous work, some of whom began working at age 17.
Thousands of jobs losses were announced by UK companies today, underscoring fears that British households will continue to suffer the repercussions of the recession for years to come.
Global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca unveiled plans to cut another 8,000 jobs on top of the 15,000 already announced, but would not say how many will go in the UK. At the same time, the home retail group Shop Direct outlined plans to cut 1,500 jobs in Sunderland, Burnley and Newtown in mid-Wales and carmaker Toyota aims to axe up to 750 jobs at its main UK factory.
The news of thousands of job losses follows a stark warning from a group of labour market experts earlier this month that unemployment may continue to rise for years after the recession ends.
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