1 Eurozone recovery falters (Phillip Inman in The Guardian) The eurozone's economic woes persisted in the third quarter as Italy's longest recession continued and a contraction in French output dragged growth down to 0.1%. In the summer, hopes of a strong recovery were boosted by a second-quarter GDP rise of 0.3%, but the momentum of the first half of the year has fizzled out. The figures gave weight to fears that high unemployment, low inflation and disagreements among political leaders over further moves towards integration will keep the currency zone locked into a prolonged period of low growth.
In France, a slump in exports and business investment failed to offset strong consumer spending to leave François Hollande's socialist administration to cope with a 0.1% decline in GDP. Italy, which has faced prolonged period of political instability, was also mired in economic gloom after a 0.1% decline in GDP in the third quarter extended the country's recession from the summer of 2011 to nine quarters.
Of the smaller eurozone members, Austria returned to growth after a flat summer period with a 0.2% rise in GDP, while the Netherlands, which also flatlined in the summer, nudge 0.1% higher and Finland managed a 0.4% expansion. German growth fell from 0.7% in the second quarter to 0.3%, though several analysts said the eurozone's powerhouse economy was merely returning to its expected annualised rate of 1.2% a year.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/nov/14/eurozone-economic-recovery-falters-third-quarter
Ireland is seen as the best-performing of the four
bailed-out economies; the others are Greece, Portugal and Cyprus. Its return to
economic normalcy is an important psychological moment for Europe’s
single-currency zone, which is spasmodically emerging from its near-death
experience. Ireland’s decision to improvise without a prearranged credit line
from international lenders was seen as especially daring given Europe’s shaky
economic stance.
Ireland’s banks are still laboring under a mountain of
bad debt incurred during the property boom that preceded the country’s economic
crash, and extra capital may still be needed. But a credit line might have come
with conditions attached, and the Irish government said that it was confident
it could manage a full return to economic sovereignty without the need for a
special credit line. The interest rates on its sovereign debt are low and
public finances under control, it added.
3 Lockheed Martin to cut 4,000 jobs (The New York Times) Lockheed Martin is cutting 4,000 jobs, about 3.5 percent of its workforce, as the defense contractor continues to look for ways to lower costs amid reduced government spending. "In the face of government budget cuts and an increasingly complex global security landscape, these actions are necessary for the future of our business," CEO Marilyn Hewson said in a statement.
Across-the-board spending cuts by the federal
government have helped trim US budget deficits. Budget negotiators in Congress
are holding talks centered on find ways to cut spending and tax breaks to
replace the automatic cuts that started earlier this year that are slamming the
Pentagon and domestic agencies. Lockheed Martin Corp., maker of Patriot missile
defense system and the F-35 and F-16 fighter planes, will close plants in
Goodyear, Ariz.; Akron, Ohio; Newtown, Pa.; and Horizon City, Texas; as well as
four buildings at its Sunnyvale, Calif. campus, by mid-2015, eliminating 2,000
jobs.
Another 2,000 positions will be cut in its information
systems and global solutions, mission system and training, and space systems
units by 2014's end. Lockheed Martin said it has cut its workforce to 116,000
employees from 146,000 since 2008.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/11/14/us/ap-us-lockheed-martin-jobs.html?ref=business
4 Barclays to shed 1,700 jobs (BBC) Barclays is to cut
1,700 jobs from across its branch network in the UK, the bank has announced. The
cuts come as it scales back the number of branches across the country. Barclays
said in a statement that the way people accessed banking services was changing
rapidly, with more using smart phones and other technology. Barclays has 1,577
branches employing 33,600 staff.
The Unite
union, which represents some bank staff, said customer service could suffer as
result of the cuts and said Barclays was making a "colossal mistake"
. The jobs going are equivalent to one staff member per branch, Barclays said,
and will involve a host of frontline roles including cashiers, personal
bankers, operational specialists, and branch and assistant managers. They will
be rolled out through 2014.
5 Amazon deforestation up 28% (BBC) Brazil says the rate
of deforestation in the Amazon increased by 28% between August 2012 and last
July, after years of decline. The government is working to reverse this
"crime", Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said. Activists have
blamed the increase in destruction on a controversial reform to Brazil's forest
protection law. Last year Brazil reported the lowest rate of deforestation in
the Amazon since monitoring began.
Environmentalists say the controversial reform of the forest protection law in 2012 is to blame for the upwards trend. The changes reduced protected areas in farms and declared an amnesty for areas destroyed before 2008. The reform, a long-standing demand of the country's farmers' lobby, known as the ruralists, was passed after several vetoes by President Dilma Rousseff. Agriculture accounts for more than 5% of the Brazilian GDP. "If you sleep with the ruralist lobby, you wake up with deforestation," Amazon expert Paulo Adario from Greenpeace wrote on Twitter.
The majority of Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions, believed to be one of the main causes of global warming, stem from deforestation. The Brazilian government made a commitment in 2009 to reduce deforestation in the Amazon by 80% by the year 2020, in relation to the average between 1996 and 2005.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-24950487
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