Economy

• Wednesday, November 4th 2009 - 13:18 UTC

  Peruvian regional initiative to cut military expenditure and fight poverty

  

  Peru launched in Argentina its peace, security and cooperation initiative to reduce arms purchases in the region and to lower expenditure on military hardware.

• Wednesday, November 4th 2009 - 13:17 UTC

  Two million British children have no parent in work

  

  The number of children in British families living on benefits has increased by 170,000 over the past year, with child poverty growing in affluent as well as traditionally hard hit areas, according to a new report.

• Wednesday, November 4th 2009 - 13:14 UTC

  Ireland and Spain forecasted to remain in recession well into 2011

  

  The European Union's economy is set to rebound in 2010, recording a growth rate of 0.7% before accelerating to a rate of 1.6% in 2011, the bloc's executive said Tuesday. However some economies will emerge from recession faster than others and among those lagging well into 2011 are Spain and Ireland.

• Wednesday, November 4th 2009 - 13:10 UTC

  Major restructure of British banks includes more injection of funds

  

  Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling welcomed Tuesday the announcements that Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds Banking Group are to sell off hundreds of branches.

• Wednesday, November 4th 2009 - 09:42 UTC

  Cuba admits overseas purchases down 36% plus difficulties to pay suppliers

  

  Cuban purchases from United States companies will total some 580 million US dollars by the end of 2009, down 37% from last year, the head of the state corporation Alimport said this week.

• Wednesday, November 4th 2009 - 09:32 UTC

  Spain’s unemployment at a record 19.3% and no stopping in near future

  

  Spain's registered jobless rose for the third consecutive month in October reaching 19.3%, as stimulus spending began to run out and the boost from the busy summer period faded.

• Tuesday, November 3rd 2009 - 11:30 UTC

  Delaware, Cayman Islands and London City among “most secretive tax havens”

  

  A league table of the world’s most secretive tax havens has been compiled by campaigners seeking greater transparency about the operation of ‘offshore’ finance centres. The Financial Secrecy Index (FSI) analyses the level of secrecy each haven offers, and the extent of their reluctance to co-operate with other countries tax authorities.

• Tuesday, November 3rd 2009 - 08:24 UTC

  Royal Bank of Scotland to cut 3.700 jobs in UK branches

  

  Royal Bank of Scotland is to cut 3,700 jobs across its UK branch network in a bid to modernise the way the bank operates, the company has said. The redundancies follow a strategic review of the bank and will take effect from May next year.

• Tuesday, November 3rd 2009 - 08:21 UTC

  Ford back on track makes one billion USD profit in third quarter

  

  Ford, one of the big three of the US auto industry has announced profits of almost one billion US dollars between July and September thanks to increased market share and a successful cost-cutting program.

• Monday, November 2nd 2009 - 12:06 UTC

  Brazil’s plan to boost the economy and send a good report to Copenhagen

  

  Brazil has extended tax breaks on energy-efficient home appliances for three months in a bid to boost consumption and consolidate a rebound in Latinamerica's largest economy. The announcement was made last week by Finance Minister Guido Mantega and becomes effective this month.