The markets in US and Europe are undergoing a major slowdown and the Indian Leather exports have been badly affected. The Leather industry of India saw a significant growth of 13.67 percent at $3.47 billion in the year 2007-08, which broke a four year record. This confidence instigated the industry to set a target of $ 4 billion in the next fiscal. 

After Large scale lay offs by Jet Airways, the industry chambers Assocham has predicted upto 25 percent job cuts in the infrastructure, services and aviation sector. After a survey, the Assocham declared that the layoffs shall be in seven key sectors namely steel, cement, IT-enabled services /BPO, financial and brokerage services, construction, real estate and aviation. 

New York - Wall Street stock indices climbed Thursday despite new government data showing the US economy shrank in the third quarter of 2008.

The 0.3-per-cent contraction in gross domestic product - the largest quarterly decline since the 2001 recession - was less than the 0.5-per-cent drop forecast by economists.

Consumer spending shrunk by 3.1 per cent in the quarter, the largest drop since 1980, as a financial crisis has severely curbed lending in the United States.

San Salvador, El Salvador (dpa) - Latin America and Spain on Thursday at the 18th Iberian American Summit in San Salvador demanded a greater presence in global financial decisions at a time of crisis.

Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Argentina, among other countries, called for a fairer multilateral world order that would take into account the views of emerging countries in the face of a crisis that developed in industrialized nations and threatens to hit developing countries particularly hard.

New York - The UN Security Council condemned "in the strongest terms" on Thursday the wave of bomb attacks in Somalia that killed at least 26 people, including two staff members of the UN Development Programme.

The two staff members were Somalis who worked for the UN for years. The attacks took place Wednesday in the breakaway Somaliland and Puntland regions.

Beirut - A bomb exploded late Thursday inside the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, east of the southern port city of Sidon, according to Lebanese and Palestinian sources.

The bomb went off near an office for the mainstream Palestinian Fatah movement, causing panic and material damage.

In recent months, there have been several clashes in Ain al-Hilweh between Fatah and the mainly Sunni Jund al-Sham (Soldiers of Damascus), an Islamist group. The Lebanese Army does not enter the camps, leaving the responsibility for security to Palestinian factions.