Eight more days to save the euro

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota London (CNN) – We are now on Day Two of Olli Rehn’s 10 days to save the euro and the tempo is heating up.Mario Draghi, the new European Central Bank president, has tantalizingly hinted he will do more to help out provided euro-member countries start the process of economic unification. As he put it, the sequence of events matters. In our language: Don’t put the horse before the cart.For Europe’s leaders the promise that the ECB will ride to the rescue is sweet music, perhaps even for Germany’s Merkel and the Bundesbank who are demanding a move to...

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UK strikes biggest since '89? Doubt it.

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota London (CNN) – I’m reading that the public sector walk out to hit the UK on Wednesday will be the biggest strikes in Britain since 1989 - since the Margaret Thatcher era. One union says it will be a historic day.In the 21 years I lived in London, I’ve seen transportation crippled, schools emptied, streets blocked by strikers and demonstrators. But the unions are telling us we ain’t seen nothing yet.I’m not convinced. Yes, something like two million people will be on strike and tens of thousands are expected to march. But it will be peaceful. I don’t...

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Indian traders strike over retail reform

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota New Delhi, India (CNN) – Traders shuttered shops and markets through India Thursday to protest the federal announcement to open the country's $450 billion retail market to foreign competition.The move came as lawmakers opposed to the plan paralyzed the national parliament for yet another day."Our strike shows how angry indigenous traders are," said Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which led slogan-shouting demonstrations in New Delhi.He said the arrival of global supermarkets would eliminate...

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India looks to balance China trade

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Editor's note: "Along the Silk Road" is a weekly segment on Global Exchange, that will explore the burgeoning trade and investment links from the Middle East to Asia. Watch Global Exchange, on CNN International, Sunday to Thursday 1100 ET, 1600 GMT and 1700 CET.Gujarat, India (CNN) –  A prolonged economic slump in the West has prompted India to broaden its economic ties and look east - to China.Indian exports to China jumped nearly 70% last year, according to an Indian research report. It was partly on account of a loosening of export controls to...

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Can the 'badly designed' euro fail?

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota London (CNN) - Sir Mervyn King’s words today are chilling. The eurozone crisis is “extraordinarily serious and threatening” the Governor of the Bank of England said, and the UK’s central bank was drawing up contingency plans in case the zone breaks up.This is the icing on the cake that has seen more and more politicians and commentators postulate the unthinkable: a breakup of the zone and the currency. The Economist starts this week’s lead article “even as the eurozone hurtles towards a crash.”For some weeks now I have believed that such an event...

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Eurogeddon: The 10 failures of EU leaders

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota London (CNN) – Just like the credit crunch three years ago, the current eurozone crisis will no doubt spawn endless books and provide many an interesting case study for the world’s future economists. Whether the lessons will be learned and future crises avoided depends largely on whether you believe history repeats itself. And that’s another topic that divides opinion as much as the eurozone itself.Already academics at Oxford University’s Centre for International Studies have identified 10 key failures of Europe’s leaders in how they have handled...

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Parliamentary stalemate as India's retail battle continues

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota New Delhi, India (CNN) - India's federal government is facing ongoing disruption as the battle continues over its decision to allow foreign supermarkets into the nation's $450 billion retail market.The uproar by lawmakers forced an abrupt adjournment of India's parliament for another day Tuesday. The impasse has also been stalling key legislative business, including the passage of an anti-corruption bill. An all-party meeting to end the deadlock has also failed.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, meanwhile, is defending last week’s decision to allow international...

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Public sector corruption stymies eurozone debt crisis relief

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Greece and Italy are perceived as corruption-tainted and this is hampering efforts to tackle the eurozone crisis, a new report suggests.According to corruption watchdog Transparency International, the two countries at the center of the debt crisis scored poorly on the group’s 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index. On a scale of ten, Greece scored 3.4 and Italy 3.9, ranking 80 and 69, respectively, on the list of 183 countries.The Corruption Perception Index ranks countries according to their perceived levels of corruption in the...

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"Long battle ahead” for Hong Kong maids

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Hong Kong, China (CNN) – “There’s still a long battle ahead.”That’s what Mark Daly, the lawyer for Filipina maid Evangeline Vallejos, first told me after a Hong Kong court today ruled to uphold a prior judge’s historic verdict.That September 30 judgment: His client – and all other eligible foreign domestic workers here – are entitled to apply for permanent residency. Also known as PR, it has been a right afforded to most white-collar foreign workers but foreign maids have traditionally not been eligible. Partly because of this, many have complained...

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Sony Buys Ericsson’s Stake in Phone Venture

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota October 27, 2011, 12:19 PM EDT By Jonathan Browning and Mariko Yasu (Adds Ericsson CEO comments starting in seventh paragraph.)Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp. agreed to buy Ericsson AB’s 50 percent stake in their 10-year-old mobile-phone venture to integrate the smartphone business with its gaming and tablet offerings.Ericsson will get 1.05 billion euros ($1.5 billion) in cash for its shares in Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, the Stockholm-based company said today. The proceeds from the deal are higher than the book value of Ericsson’s...

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Canadian businesses score poorly on succession planning

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota After a lot of blood, sweat, tears and long nights, your small business is thriving. Smart planning helped you get through the recession, and you managed to avoid some of the most common mistakes on the road to building a profitable enterprise. You’ve done well, but one day you start to think it might be nice to step back and do something else.The only problem is that so much time and energy went into getting the business up and running, you never stopped to think about when you might be ready to hand over the reins. So now what?According to TD Waterhouse's...

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Greeks Fear They Are Losing Their Sovereignty

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Nikolas Giakoumidis/AP A teacher walks by during a parade in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki on Thursday. Parades were held across Greece on Thursday to mark the 61st anniversary of the country's resistance to Axis forces, which dragged Greece into World War II. Some bystanders also seized the opportunity to shout anti-austerity slogans.World markets rallied Thursday after European leaders agreed on a plan to deal with the eurozone debt crisis....

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Tainted Aqua Dot beads leads to $1.3 M fine

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota The U.S. government slapped a hefty $1.3 million fine on a Toronto-based toy company that sold popular arts-and-crafts beads that were linked to a dangerous drug and sickened about a dozen children.The civil penalty, announced Thursday, marks the third largest toy-related fine issued by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.The Aqua Dots toy beads were imported by Spin Master in 2007 and recalled after tests showed they were coated with a chemical that, when ingested, can metabolize into the so-called "date-rape" drug gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB)....

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Irish Spy Opportunity in Greece’s Debt Hole

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota October 27, 2011, 7:02 AM EDT By Dara Doyle (For more on Europe’s debt crisis, see EXT4.)Oct. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Greece’s difficulty paying its debts may turn out to be Ireland’s opportunity.Greece’s failure to cut spending and boost revenue by enough to meet targets set by the European Union and International Monetary Fund prompted bondholders to accept a 50 percent loss on its debt. While Ireland won’t seek debt discounts, the government might pursue other relief given to Greece, including cheaper interest payments on aid and longer to repay it,...

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City bonuses seen falling 38 percent

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota LONDON | Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:20am BST LONDON (Reuters) - Bonuses in London's finance sector for this year will likely fall 38 percent, reaching lows not seen for nearly a decade and sharply reducing the tax take collected on the payouts, according to an economic thinktank.The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) slashed its forecast for 2011 bonuses, having initially predicted they would be up 6 percent on the 6.7 billion pounds awarded for 2010.It now estimates the bonus pot in London's financial industry, known as the City, will come...

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Ericsson to leave Sony Ericsson

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Sony Ericsson's Android-based Xperia smartphones, such as the Xperia Play, account for more than 80 per cent of its sales. Manu Fernandez/Associated Press LM Ericsson and Sony Corp. announced Thursday they will go separate ways as Ericsson sells its 50 per cent stake in mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson to Sony for 1.05 billion euros($1.46 billion).Sony Ericsson will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony and integrated into Sony's broad platform of...

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David Carr: The News Diet Of A Media Omnivore

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Enlarge Mario Tama/Getty Images "We are entering a golden age of journalism," says David Carr of The New York Times. "I look at my backpack ... and it contains more journalistic firepower than the entire newsroom that I walked into 30-40 years ago." Mario Tama/Getty Images "We are entering a golden age of journalism," says David Carr of The New York Times. "I look at my backpack ... and it contains more journalistic firepower than the entire newsroom...

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Air Canada expanding Montreal call centre

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Air Canada says the expansion of its Montreal customer service call centre will create more than 150 new jobs.Canada's largest air carrier says it has filled 50 positions in October and will add another 100 jobs in the next few months.The expansion will boost the Montreal call centre's workforce to more than 250 people.Air Canada operates other Canadian call centres in Saint John, N.B., Toronto and Winnipeg.Its U.S. call centre is in Tampa, Fla.Career AdvisorfNew Automob...

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Deficit-Cutting Supercommittee: 'We're Not There Yet'

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota The 12-member supercommittee charged with finding at least $1.2 trillion in budget cuts next month met publicly for the first time in six weeks Wednesday — and agreed on little more than the fact that time is indeed growing short for them to approve a deal. Co-chairman Patty Murray, D-Wash., said a lot of hard work has been done to find common ground and agree on a balanced, bipartisan plan for deficit reduction. But, she added, "We're not there yet." Copyright © 2011 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use....

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U.S. economy grows 2.5% in third quarter

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota The U.S. economy grew modestly over the summer after nearly stalling in the first six months of the year, lifted by stronger consumer spending and greater business investment.The Commerce Department said Thursday that the economy expanded at an annual rate of 2.5 per cent in the July—September quarter.That's the strongest growth in a year and nearly double the 1.3 per cent growth in the April—June quarter. It's also a vast improvement over the anemic 0.9 per cent growth for the entire first half of the year.While 2.5 per cent growth is enough to ease...

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Cameron Says London Is Under ’Constant Attack’ From Brussels

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota October 28, 2011, 4:09 AM EDT By Gonzalo Vina Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said London’s financial center is under “constant attack” from bureaucrats in Brussels and he will seek to prevent closer integration by countries using the euro from hurting the City.This week’s agreement to bolster the euro area’s defenses against the sovereign debt crisis will lead to “more meetings alone” and the prospect of “caucusing” among the 17 nations that share the single currency, he said.That will increase chances that decisions taken...

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Norway 'Oil Fund' hit by euro zone crisis

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota OSLO | Fri Oct 28, 2011 9:37am BST OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's sovereign wealth fund experienced its second-weakest quarter in its history as Europe's debt crisis and a fear of a worldwide recession weighed on stocks in the third quarter, Europe's biggest equity investor said on Friday.The fund's return on investment was -8.8 percent in the quarter, against 0.3 percent growth in the previous quarter.The value of the central bank-run fund stood at 3.055 trillion Norwegian crowns at the end of the third quarter, down from 3.111 trillion at the end of...

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European Stocks Gain as Renault Climbs; U.S. Index Futures Fall

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota October 28, 2011, 4:24 AM EDT By Adam Haigh Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- European stocks rose, with the Stoxx Europe 600 Index extending its best month since April 2009, as the region’s debt deal and results from Renault SA to Electrolux AB reassured investors that the global recovery is intact. Asian shares increased, while U.S. index futures slid.Renault, France’s second-biggest carmaker, gained 4.5 percent as third-quarter sales topped analysts’ estimates. Electrolux surged 7.5 percent as the Swedish maker of household appliances reported net income...

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Arthritis costs Canada $33B a year

AppId is over the quotaAppId is over the quota Arthritis is the most common cause of disability in Canada, putting serious strain on public health care and the economy, according to a new report.Thursday's report by the Arthritis Alliance of Canada estimated that osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis costs the Canadian economy $33 billion last year in direct health-care costs and indirect costs such as lost productivity. Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common inflammatory joint disease. iStockThe...

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