Euro zone finance ministers said on Monday that they will reject a US call for additional economic stimulus measures. US officials were pressing for new stimulus plans around the world to help combat the global crisis.
Around 60% of Ford's workers agreed to a cost-cutting deal to save the automaker billions of dollars in health-care costs. The announcement came as the US government's "working group" was meeting with the United Auto Workers union.
The economic crisis will have damaging effects on developing countries this year, says the World Bank, which is asking richer nations to contribute from their own stimulus plans to help cover the shortfall.
Austria ran up a trade deficit of 1.8 billion euros in 2008, the biggest trade deficit since 2003, as imports grew faster than exports, official data showed Monday.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy (left) is visiting Mexico on a mission to boost trade with the country and to discuss the case of Frenchwoman Florence Cassez, who is languishing in a Mexican jail on kidnap charges.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is visiting Mexico on a mission to boost trade with the Central American country. He will also plead the case of Frenchwoman Florence Cassez (pictured) who is languishing in a Mexican jail on kidnap charges.
The global recession has brought its loads of devastating effects. Some companies manage to buck the trend. Among them, GDF Suez. Raphael Kahane met Gerard Mestrallet, the head of the European leader of energy and gas network.
At a meeting of business leaders, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said low-carbon recovery was "a central part" of economic recovery. Brown expects that "green" economy could create 400,000 jobs by 2017.
On Friday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggested that governments should work on new stimulus plans to face the global economic downturn. IMF hopes to anticipate the economic weakness expected over the next two years.
According to official figures from the Labour Department, the US economy lost 651,000 jobs in February, pushing the unemployment rate up to 8.1 percent. It was the worst month for the country's labour market since 1983.
