U.S.: Economy Goes Down, Congressional Pay Goes Up

U.S. workers are losing jobs in record numbers, scores of businesses are shuttering and hundreds of thousands of families are newly homeless - and Congress just gave itself a generous pay raise.

INDIA: Satyam Scam Questions Corporate Governance

India's government, its corporate sector and its people are stunned after the founder-chairman of one of the country's largest information technology (IT) services companies admitted to years of falsified profits and an audacious financial fraud worth 1.5 billion dollars.

EASTERN EUROPE: Good Old Ways Protecting the Economy

Fears about the impact of the global financial crisis in Eastern Europe may be overblown. While economic growth is likely to slow down in 2009, it is improbable that countries like Romania and Bulgaria will be hit as hard as Britain or the U.S.

LABOUR-CHINA: Mass Unemployment Looms

Twenty years after the Chinese communist party deployed tanks to crush protests by disgruntled students on Tiananmen square, the country is facing the same volatile mix of rising unemployment and economic gloom that sparked the 1989 mass pro-democracy marches.

ECONOMY-MEXICO: Stimulus Plan to Curb Impact of Crisis

The Mexican government announced a 54 billion dollar economic recovery plan Wednesday aimed at helping the local economy weather the global financial crisis, with measures like freezing gasoline prices and boosting spending on public works.

CHINA/US: Wealth of Nations Redefined

Chinese and United States leaders have hailed the 30 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries as one of the most defining bilateral ties of the 20th century, but Beijing and Washington are celebrating the anniversary in subdued mood.

ECONOMY-CHILE: Workers Nervous, Despite Anti-Crisis Plan

The four billion dollar economic stimulus plan announced by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has majority support, but trade unions are still worried about mass layoffs.

ECONOMY-HONDURAS: Stormy Outlook for 2009

The economic outlook for Honduras this year is far from bright. The government has failed in its attempts to sign a new letter of intent with the IMF, and growth is expected to slow down due to the global financial crisis, according to analysts consulted by IPS.

ECONOMY-BRAZIL: An Island in Stormy Waters

Brazil is not immune to the current global financial crisis, but there are many indications that it will remain largely safe from the recession shaking the world’s rich countries and that economic growth will stay at reasonable levels if the meltdown is neither deeper nor longer than expected.

LABOUR-INDIA: Getting 'Bangalored' Back

The term 'getting Bangalored' , or having jobs outsourced from the West to this international IT hub, looks set to acquire another connotation - this time of professionals being fired right here.

LABOUR-SRI LANKA: Gloomy Prospects in 2009

If the global financial crisis slams the brakes on worker remittances from the Middle East, Sri Lanka’s top foreign exchange earner, it could severely exacerbate this country’s economic woes, analysts say.

CUBA: Golden Anniversary in Tough Times

The Cuban Revolution's 50th anniversary on Jan. 1 finds the country facing the challenge of sorting out the economy and improving living conditions, in the context of a complex international situation that may make reaching those goals particularly difficult.

ECONOMY: 'Financial Meltdown Decolonising Asian Minds'

The year 2008 may well go down in history as a watershed in which the global financial crisis, precipitated by the collapse of Western economic models, ‘decolonised’ Asians minds, say observers.

ECONOMY-BALKANS: The Old Ways May Be Recession-Proof

Two things Serbs never forget to pack when visiting friends and relatives abroad are the kore and the cream. The kore is the traditional hand-made pastry; and the Pavlovic face and body cream has long held its own against more upmarket brands.

ENVIRONMENT-AUSTRALIA: Emissions Reduction Target ‘Weak’

The gap between the Rudd government’s rhetoric and practice in addressing climate change, albeit with one eye on the worsening global financial conditions, has led to a palpable feeling of betrayal among Australians.

ECONOMY-US: Carmaker Rescue Could Cost Workers

After debating whether it was wise for the Republican administration to let the U.S. automotive industry collapse under its watch, Pres. George W. Bush, who leaves office next January with a battered legacy marked by an unpopular war in Iraq that has consumed billions of tax dollars and an economic meltdown at home, finally came to the aid of General Motors and Chrysler with a 17.4-billion-dollar rescue package.

LABOUR-US: Demand Dries Up For On-Demand Workers

Outside a Home Depot store, it's a typical December morning in Seattle: cool and gray with a light sprinkle falling. At 7:30, about 50 men wait at the entrances to the parking lot. Most wear jackets, jeans and work shoes, and some carry day packs with tools, water and lunch. They stand silently with hands in pockets, alone or in knots of three or four, baseball caps or sweatshirt hoods deployed against the chilly mist.

FINANCE: Crisis Pits Vatican Against Offshore Bankers

The financial crisis has the U.S. swirling with charges about the immoral greed of some corporate executives who recklessly bet their companies' futures to line their own pockets. The popular fix for this international calamity stops at the nation's borders: decouple top-line salaries and bonuses from stock prices and institute more transparency and regulation.

INDIA: China Swamps Handloom Silk Industry

Legend has it that India’s famed handloom silk industry began around 300 A.D. after a Chinese princess smuggled out the eggs of the silkworm moth and the seeds of the mulberry tree in her headdress.

ECONOMY-IRAN: From Bad to Worse?

As the price of crude oil continued its tumble to less than 35 dollars a barrel Friday, Iranian economists are warning that the fourth-largest oil producer in the world will enter an even deeper crisis should the price remain low, with many also blaming the government's economic policies.

FINANCE-US: AIG's Offshore Strategies Hide a Scam

The company getting the biggest U.S. bailout operated a scam to help clients cheat on U.S. taxes, regulators say. It is AIG, American International Group, the world's largest insurance conglomerate.