Sydney - Interest rates in Australia were unchanged at 3.25 per cent Tuesday after the central bank decided further relaxing monetary policy would increase inflationary pressures.
It was the first monthly meeting in five months that ended with the board of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) not cutting the rate it charges banks for borrowing.
Wellington - The New Zealand economy, which has been in recession since early last year, faces a "long, slow grind" back to normality, the country's leading economic think tank said Tuesday.
"Several years of sub-trend growth lie ahead," the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) said in its latest quarterly predictions commentary.
Cairo - Since the beginning of 2009, the blare of ships' horns passing through the Suez Canal has become less frequent, so it came as no surprise when latest figures showed a drop in canal revenues.
The canal, completed by French engineers in 1869, means ships avoid the lengthy trip around Africa to pass from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. And it provides Egypt with an important source of revenue.
Singapore - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in an TV interview late Friday that there is a need for a rebalancing in the world economy, which could mean a shift away from Asia's current export-driven model.
"There will have to be a global rebalancing because we cannot expect the Americans to be consumers of things made all over the world. And the rest of the world as savers lending money to the US to buy things from you," Lee said in an interview with CNBC television.
Washington - Republican legislators slammed President Barack Obama's economic agenda on Friday for mimicking the ideals of socialist European governments, one day after the president revealed his 3.6-trillion-dollar budget for 2010.
At a conservative policy gathering in Washington, lawmakers repeatedly attacked Obama for planning a massive uptick in spending on energy, education, health care and other programmes.
Wellington - The New Zealand government would consider subsidizing a day off every two weeks for workers to try to save jobs as the international recession bites, Prime Minister John Key said Friday.
The idea of factory hands working only nine days every two weeks was debated by business leaders at a job summit organized by the centre-right government to consider ways to handle rising unemployment as critical export income falls.
Under the scheme, the government would pay for workers to undergo training or do community work on the 10th day.
Sydney - Interest rates in Australia were unchanged at 3.25 per cent Tuesday after the central bank decided further relaxing monetary policy would increase inflationary pressures.
Wellington - The New Zealand economy, which has been in recession since early last year, faces a "long, slow grind" back to normality, the country's leading economic think tank said Tuesday.
Cairo - Since the beginning of 2009, the blare of ships' horns passing through the Suez Canal has become less frequent, so it came as no surprise when latest figures showed a drop in canal revenues.
Singapore - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in an TV interview late Friday that there is a need for a rebalancing in the world economy, which could mean a shift away from Asia's current export-driven model.
Washington - Republican legislators slammed President Barack Obama's economic agenda on Friday for mimicking the ideals of socialist European governments, one day after the president revealed his 3.6-trillion-dollar budget for 2010.
Wellington - The New Zealand government would consider subsidizing a day off every two weeks for workers to try to save jobs as the international recession bites, Prime Minister John Key said Friday.
