Business

The Premier of the Australian state of Queensland has announced that the state will have its election on Saturday, March 21. In an address on YouTube, Anna Bligh of the Australian Labor Party said that she called the election due to the state of the economy and to stabilise the government. "It's time for Queensland to settle this election. It's time to settle the speculation. So that government, business and the community can get on with the task at hand and not be distracted and destabilised by looming elections," Ms Bligh said in the stateme

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the current economic recession in the United States "may last into 2010." The Chairman also predicted that unemployment would remain at relatively high levels until 2011. However, Bernanke added that 2010 could be a year of recovery if the government was able to restore some financial stability. He made the statements to the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. "It is essential that we continue to complement fiscal stimulus with strong government action to stabilise financial institutions and f

According to official figures, Japan's exports dropped by 46% in January compared to a year ago, the lowest statistics ever to be recorded. Japan's exports to the United States plunged by almost 53% in January, with car shipments down by 81%. Exports to the European Union fell by 47%. The Finance Ministry stated that the trade deficit was 952.6 billion yen (US$9.9 billion), the largest deficit ever recorded. The country's trade deficit with China increased by 61% to 562.7 billion yen (US$5.86 billion). "Japan is particularly vulnerable to th

Three major United States stock market indexes closed at their lowest levels in over a decade on Monday, amidst declining investor confidence and worries that the government will nationalize the banks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 3.41%, or 251.4 points, to end the day at 7,114.3, its lowest level since October 1997. The Standard and Poor's 500 index lost 26 points or 3.5% to a level of 743.33, its lowest level since April 1997. The Russel 2000 Index of smaller companies dropped by four percent. The three stock market indexes have

__NOTOC__ According to ornithologists, a rare Philippines buttonquail feared to have gone extinct was recently documented alive by a cameraman inadvertently filming a local market, right before it was sold and headed for the cooking pot. Scientists had suspected the species—listed as "data deficient" on the 2008 International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List Category—was extinct. Last month, native bird trappers snared and successfully caught the Luzon Buttonquail (Turnix worcesteri or Worcester's buttonquail) in Dalton Pass, a co

At least 20 people have been injured and one has been killed in a bomb blast targeting 'Western tourists' in Cairo, Egypt. The Egyptian Health Ministry reported that a 17-year-old French girl was killed and 13 French, one German and three Saudis tourists, as well as four Egyptians, have been wounded. The blast occurred at approximately 6:20 p.m. local time inside a cafe near a mosque in the Khan el-Khalili marketplace which is popular with foreign tourists. Authorities say the bomb was placed under a bench. A second bomb was found, but was d

Israel has seized 425 acres of Palestinian land in the West Bank in order to build 2,500 new settlement homes according to Israeli officials. This comes after United States Special Envoy George Mitchell asked for a freeze on settlement expansion which is deemed illegal under international law. The seized land will be integrated into the Israeli city of Efrat, a city which is to house 30,000 people according to the mayor of Efrat. Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni has stated that in order to make peace, settlement expansion must stop and fu

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at its lowest level in over six years on Thursday, having lost 1.16%, or 89.68 points, bringing it to a level of 7,465.95. It had, at one point, set an intraday bear market low of 7,447.55. It was the lowest ending for the index since October 9, 2002. The Dow has fallen almost fifteen percent since the start of this year. Two other US indexes also fell today: the Standard & Poor's 500 (S&P) fell by 9.48 points, or 1.20 percent, to 778.94 points. The Nasdaq Composite lost 1.71% or 25.15 points, closing a

A Yorkshire pub affected by flooding in 2007 has been named CAMRA's National Pub of the Year for 2008. The Kelham Island Tavern in Sheffield's Kelham Island Quarter was in a "semi derelict" state when it was purchased in 2001. After it was re-opened in 2002 by licensee Trevor Wraith and manager Lewis Gonda, business quickly picked up and the pub has been awarded Sheffield CAMRA's local Pub of the Year award for the past four years. The pub won the award despite six weeks of closure a year and a half ago when the pub's cellar and floor were aff

The United States Congress passed a US$787 billion stimulus package late Friday night, in an effort to curb the recession and boost the faltering US economy. The bill was passed by a vote of 60&ndashp;38, barely reaching the minimum number of 60 votes needed to make the bill a law. Only three Republican senators voted for the measure. Shortly before the Senate vote, the US House of Representatives approved of the stimulus by a margin of 246–183, with all 176 Republicans and seven Democrats voting against the bill. The Senate vote was delayed

Official figures show that Japan's economy has shrunk by 3.3% in the last quarter of 2008—or an annualized 12.7%, the fastest decline since 1974, when the economy contracted by 3.4% in a quarter. The decline in Japan has been sharper than in either Europe or North America, mostly because global demand for the country's products, such as automobiles and electronics, has fallen. The contraction was also larger than the 3.1% decline that was predicted by economists, the worst decline of any major economic power in the same quarter. In comparison

Politicians from both houses of the United States Congress have reached a consensus over a stimulus package worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The package was bridged between the House of Representatives' version of the stimulus, which was worth US$820 billion, and the Senate's version, which cost $838 billion. The package now costs $789 billion, and devotes resources to tax cuts and spending intended to help revive the faltering US economy. The House of Representatives' version of the bill was passed without any Republican support, while