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Rage against GM over 10,000 planned job cuts at Opel

AFP - Friday, November 6

BERLIN (AFP) - - Angry German workers on Thursday protested General Motors' shock refusal to sell its European unit Opel and its plans to cut 10,000 jobs, moves slammed as a slap in the face for Chancellor Angela Merkel. More »

  • An Afghan woman wears a protective mask in Kabul. The World Health Organisation has urged people not to drop their guard over the swine flu pandemic and insisted on the value of vaccination despite the broadly mild symptoms of the virus.

    WHO urges people to maintain guard over swine flu

    AFP - Friday, November 6

    GENEVA (AFP) - The World Health Organisation on Thursday urged people not to drop their guard over the swine flu pandemic and insisted on the value of vaccination despite the broadly mild symptoms of the virus.

  • Chartered surveyors during their ascent of the Mont Blanc in the French Alps. Western Europe's tallest peak, the snow-capped Alpine giant Mont Blanc, has shrunk by 45 centimetres (18 inches) in two years, experts said following an official survey.

    Mont Blanc shrinks by foot-and-a-half

    AFP - Friday, November 6

    ANNECY, France (AFP) - - Western Europe's tallest peak, the snow-capped Alpine giant Mont Blanc, has shrunk by 45 centimetres (18 inches) in two years, experts said Thursday following an official survey.

  • Bank of England pumps billions more into economy

    AFP - Friday, November 6

    LONDON (AFP) - - The Bank of England revealed plans Thursday to pump another 25 billion pounds (28 billion euros, 41 billion dollars) to boost the recession-hit British economy, and held interest rates at a record low.

  • Chief executive of Zurich Financial Services Group James Schiro pictured in Davos on the second day of the World Economic Forum, January 2009. Schiro has underlined Zurich's attempts to deliver

    Zurich Financial reports 'solid' earnings after crisis

    AFP - Friday, November 6

    ZURICH (AFP) - - Swiss insurance group Zurich Financial Services said Thursday its net profit had declined by 24 percent in the first nine months of the year despite a sharp revival in its third quarter fortunes.

  • BNP Paribas bank has reported a 44.8-percent rise in net quarterly profits, beating expectations with strong investment banking and markets performance.

    BNP Paribas reports 44.8-pct quarterly profit leap

    AFP - Friday, November 6

    PARIS (AFP) - - BNP Paribas bank reported a 44.8-percent rise in net quarterly profits on Thursday, beating expectations with strong investment banking and markets performance.

  • New York attorney general files antitrust suit against Intel

    AFP - Thursday, November 5

    NEW YORK (AFP) - - The attorney general of New York state filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel Corp. alleging the US computer chip giant engaged in illegal practices to dominate the market.

  • The US Federal Reserve Building is seen from the air over Washington, DC. The US Federal Reserve held its near-zero interest rate policy Wednesday and said the economy had

    Fed seen keeping near-zero rates to spur recovery

    AFP - Thursday, November 5

    WASHINGTON (AFP) - - The US Federal Reserve is likely to hold interest rates near zero Wednesday to bolster a fragile recovery from recession as rising unemployment threatens to stall growth, analysts say.

  • Sergio Marchionne, Chrysler Group LLC Chief Executive Officer and Fiat CEO arrives to address executives and the news media at the Chrysler Technical Center in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The new Chrysler has emerged from bankruptcy protection as a leaner, hipper and more competitive automaker, top executives said Wednesday as they presented a five-year plan aimed at achieving long-term profitability.

    Reborn Chrysler says it will be leaner, more competitive

    AFP - Thursday, November 5

    AUBURN HILLS, Michigan (AFP) - - The new Chrysler has emerged from bankruptcy protection as a leaner, hipper and more competitive automaker, top executives said Wednesday as they presented a five-year plan aimed at achieving long-term profitability.

  • A doctor examines a lung x-ray. The X-ray was named the most important modern scientific achievement Wednesday in a poll conducted for Britain's Science Museum, beating Apollo spacecraft and DNA.

    X-ray named top achievement by British museum

    AFP - Thursday, November 5

    LONDON (AFP) - - The X-ray was named the most important modern scientific achievement Wednesday in a poll conducted for Britain's Science Museum, beating Apollo spacecraft and DNA.

  • Chinese giant set to buy US oil assets: company

    AFP - Thursday, November 5

    OSLO (AFP) - - Norwegian energy group Statoil said Wednesday it was selling some of its oil assets in the United States to China's state-owned CNOOC, marking the first step by a Chinese energy major into the US market.

  • Afghan President Hamid Karzai addresses a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Kabul on November 3. Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, who quit Afghanistan's troubled presidential election race this week, charged Wednesday that his rival Karzai's re-election had

    Abdullah says Karzai re-election 'illegal'

    AFP - Thursday, November 5

    KABUL (AFP) - - Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, who quit Afghanistan's troubled presidential election race this week, charged Wednesday that his rival Hamid Karzai's re-election had "no legal basis".

  • US envoys to meet Myanmar PM

    AFP - Wednesday, November 4

    YANGON (AFP) - - The most senior US official to visit Myanmar for nearly a decade and a half was due to meet the military-ruled nation's prime minister Wednesday as Washington seeks to improve ties with the ruling junta.

  • French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, seen here in 2005, has died at the age of 100. Levi-Strauss helped shape Western thinking about human civilisation with his 1955 book

    French thinker Levi-Strauss dead at 100

    AFP - Wednesday, November 4

    PARIS (AFP) - - French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, who helped shape Western thinking about human civilisation, has died at the age of 100, his publisher and colleagues said Tuesday.

  • Jobless people line up in a job agency in Leipzig, eastern Germany. Unemployment in the 16 nations using the euro currency will continue to rise into 2011 even as a gradual economic recovery takes hold in Europe

    EU hikes growth forecasts, warns on jobs

    AFP - Wednesday, November 4

    BRUSSELS (AFP) - - The European Commission said on Tuesday it now expected the eurozone economy to expand rather than contract in 2010 but warned that rising unemployment and public deficits would remain problems for several years.

  • First malaria vaccine 'ready in 3-5 years'

    AFP - Wednesday, November 4

    NAIROBI (AFP) - - The most clinically advanced malaria vaccine so far should be ready for use in three to five years after Phase three trials began in May, researchers said Tuesday.

  • Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, pictured in 2008, said Tuesday his Berkshire Hathaway company will purchase Burlington Northern railway for 44 billion dollars, calling the move a

    Buffett's Berkshire to buy railway for $44 billion

    AFP - Wednesday, November 4

    WASHINGTON (AFP) - - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said Tuesday his Berkshire Hathaway company will buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway for 44 billion dollars in a "huge bet" on the American rail system.

  • Britain is to force state-rescued banks RBS and Lloyds Banking Group to sell assets in a massive shake-up of the banking sector but will support them with 30 billion pounds.

    Britain breaks up RBS, Lloyds in big bang for banking

    AFP - Wednesday, November 4

    LONDON (AFP) - - Britain is to force state-rescued banks RBS and Lloyds Banking Group to sell assets in a massive shake-up of the banking sector but will support them with 30 billion pounds, the government said on Tuesday.

  • Jobless people line up in a job agency in Leipzig, eastern Germany. The unemployment rate in the 16 eurozone nations will stand at 10.7 percent in 2010 and climb to 10.9 percent in 2011.

    Eurozone unemployment to hit 10.7%% in 2010: EU

    AFP - Wednesday, November 4

    BRUSSELS (AFP) - - The unemployment rate in the 16 eurozone nations will stand at 10.7 percent in 2010 and climb to 10.9 percent in 2011, the European Commission forecast Tuesday.

  • A giant symbol of the euro currency outside the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. The European Commission forecasted that growth in the 16 nations using the euro single currency will reach 0.7 percent in 2010, and 1.5 percent in 2011, amid a

    Eurozone growth to hit 0.7%% in 2010: EU

    AFP - Wednesday, November 4

    BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) - - Growth in the 16 nations using the euro single currency will reach 0.7 percent in 2010, and 1.5 percent in 2011, amid a "gradual recovery," the European Commission predicted Tuesday.