In the News...

G20 Summit

Barack Obama has hailed the G20 summit as a historic turning point in the pursuit of world economic recovery.

Leaders pledged new spending and tougher financial regulations, in what the US leader called an unprecedented set of actions to ease the crisis.

He now heads to Strasbourg for talks with the French and German leaders, before a Nato summit begins.

RBS Axe Jobs

Royal Bank of Scotland expects to shed more jobs worldwide, the bank has said.
RBS has already announced that about 2,700 posts will go but "this will not be the end of the story", according to chairman Sir Philip Hampton.

He also called for an "end to the public flogging" of the bank over its past mistakes.
Directors of RBS will face shareholders at the bank's annual general meeting in Edinburgh where they will be rebuked over their pay and pensions policy.

Sir Philip will tell shareholders that more redundancies are expected, although it is too early to say how many jobs will go or where the cuts will be made.

In February RBS reported it made a loss of £24.1bn in 2008 - the largest annual loss in UK corporate history.


Trade-ins Boost German Car Sales

German car sales soared 40% in March compared with the same time a year ago, with a spate of buying encouraged by a trade-in plan to scrap old cars.

The VDA automobile federation said sales in March hit 401,000 vehicles.

In Germany, drivers get 2,500 euros (£2,220; $3,170) for trading in a car more than nine years old. The scheme will be phased out by the end of 2009.

The figures come a day after the US auto industry's monthly sales were 45% down on this time last year.

And South African new vehicle sales plunged by 30.1% in the year to March, industry figures there showed on Thursday.

EU Working Hours Dispute

The European Parliament and EU governments are starting a new round of talks aimed at resolving a dispute over the EU's Working Time Directive.

The UK and 14 other EU member states have an opt-out from the directive, objecting to the 48-hour limit it sets on the working week.

But in December members of the European Parliament voted to scrap the opt-out.
MEPs also say on-call time counts as working time. A decision on that would affect key sectors such as healthcare.

The current "conciliation" is the final stage in the legislative debate. Both sides have until May to thrash out a deal, and if none is reached the European Commission will have to present new legislative proposals.

Sources: BBC News