Category: News Desk

Spain To Increase Working Hours Of Public Employees


Public employees in Spain may soon have their workdays extended by a few hours each day, reported the Wall Street Journal on Monday, with the government looking to boost efficiency and productivity in the public sector amid the current budget crunch.

The Spanish Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro was speaking at an event organised by a local university when he announced the latest government proposal, which would put public sector working hours on a similar standing as those of the private sector.

China’s Growth to Hit Lowest Level Since 1990


Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has warned that China faces serious “downward pressures” and added that China will have to adopt aggressive stimulus measures to achieve its 2012 growth target.

Wen’s remarks came days after the People’s Bank of China cut interest rates for a second time in four weeks, a surprise move which led to speculation that that the Chinese economy is slowing more sharply than expected.

Food Wastage A Key Concern For Muslims This Ramadan


Muslims may throw away more than 40 percent of all food prepared daily during the upcoming Ramadan, warned a top Bahraini environmentalist on Monday, with global demand for essential food commodities also expected to rise during the period.

Key Economic News to Watch This Week: July 9


China, the world’s second largest economy, will report its second-quarter results this Friday and the analysts are expecting the results to be “one of the worst in at least three years.” A sharp slowdown in Beijing will no doubt spell bad news for the global economy, given that China has been the key driver of growth in recent years.

Monday, July 9

Catherine Ashton, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and the European Commission’s vice president, visits China for the third round of China-EU high-level strategic dialogues.

“Sex Work Is Work Too!”: Hundreds Protest Anti-Prostitution Plans In France


Hundreds of French sex workers turned up on the streets of Paris on Saturday, reported Reuters, to protest a government plan to make prostitution illegal and criticise a French minister’s remarks on the sex industry.

Vatican Posts $19m Deficit despite Rise in Donations


The Vatican has reported one of its worst budget deficits in years as “the negative trend of global financial markets” did not permit “targets to be met”. The loss was almost 15 million euros in 2011 despite a 3 percent gain in donations.

The Roman Catholic Church posted losses of 14.9 million euros ($18.4 million) last year, with an official statement from the Holy See blaming the deficit on high personnel and communications costs and adverse market conditions.  

Zimbabwe Forces Foreign Banks To Surrender Control To Locals


Foreign-owned banks in Zimbabwe have been ordered to transfer 51 percent of their shares to black locals within a year, reported the Financial Times this week, though the policy is now facing opposition from some government officials.

Asia’s Growing Appetite for Global Foreign Direct Investment


Fast growing economies in Asia took up a quarter of the world’s foreign direct investment in 2011, as its share of the investment pie increases at the expense of the European Union. which saw its share tumble from 42 percent in 2007 to 28 percent last year. 

The figures come from the World Investment Report 2012 released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development yesterday.

EU Orders Italy To Refund $471 Million After Discovery Of Mafia-Linked Motorway


The Italian government must repay a record 381 million euros ($471 million) to the European Union for grants involving a motorway in the south of the country, reported the Associated Press on Friday, after anti-fraud investigators alleged that the project had been riddled by mafia infiltration, corruption and kickbacks.

Hollande Targets the Rich in a €7bn Tax Plan


France’s Socialist president, Francois Hollande, has unveiled new tax rises worth 7.2 billion euros ($9 billion) that would mainly target the country’s wealthiest households and its biggest corporations. The announcement comes days after the French comptroller warned of gaping shortfalls in its national budget.