The $1trillion slice of history
Gordon Brown marked the 'beginning of the end' of the recession yesterday as he announced world leaders had agreed a deal to inject more than $1trillion into global markets.
The prime minister said the package would save millions of jobs around the world and prevent a similar economic crisis happening again.
However, although the deal was hailed as a turning point there was n... 
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3rd April 2009 - by Metro - 0 Comments - Add Comment
Gordon 'puts his all into meeting'
Gordon Brown 'dedicated all his heart' to making a substantial contribution to the G20 summit, Russia's president said yesterday. In his only public appearance on his trip to Britain, Dmitry Medvedev praised the organization of the meeting, saying it enabled 'full-fledge and comprehensive work'. 'I feel Gordon has dedicated all his heart to that,' he told the London School of Economics. Mr Medvede... Read More
3rd April 2009 - by Metro - 0 Comments - Add Comment
Brown and Obama trade compliments
Barack Obama praised Gordon Brown's 'integrity' as the two leaders stood shoulder to shoulder in a show of unity yesterday.
He stressed the importance of the 'special relationship' between Britain and America, and said he was pleased his first meeting overseas was with Mr Brown. 'The United Stated and the United Kingdom have stood together through thick and thin, through war and peace, t... Read More
2nd April 209 - by J. Higginson - 0 Comments - Add Comment
Britain 'Can't afford to throw money at crisis
Britain has 'limited' room for monoeuvre in tackling the worst global recession in 50 years because of the soaring budget deficit, according to a leading think-thank.
Without a 'credible' framework for restoring the public finances, spending even more taxpayers' money would be a waste of time, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development said.
It expects Britain... Read More
1st April 2009 - by J. Higginson - 0 Comments - Add Comment
London on edge as Obama hits town
Tension was rising today as London prepared to welcome Barack Obama for his first visit since becoming US president. Police have drafted in reinforcements ahead of several days of possibly violent G20 protests, which are likely to begin when Mr Obama arrives in the capital this afternoon. Commuters were bracing for travel disruption across the capital, with demonstrators threatening to take over t... Read More
31st March 2009 - by A. Radnedge - 0 Comments - Add Comment
Brown: We can't tolerate expenses mistakes
The prime minister yesterday issued a stark warning about Commons allowances , saying: 'You cannot condone mistakes on expenses'.
Home secretary Jacqui Smith, who has been under fire since it emerged her husband claimed expenses for buying two pornographic films, was right to apologise, Mr Brown said.
In an exclusive interview, he said: 'All of us have a responsibility. It is... Read More
31st March 2009 - by J. Higginson - 0 Comments - Add Comment
Brown's big idea 'could bankrupt us'
Downing St. reacted angrily last night after Bank of England governor Mervyn King told MPs the Britain was broke.
There was a stern response after Mr King explained the country, already nearly £2trillion in debt, could not afford a further stimulus package.
The comments were a blow to Gordon Brown's bid to sell a global fiscal stimulus to world leaders at next week;s G20 sum... Read More
25th March 2009 - by Metro - 0 Comments - Add Comment
Global money crisis 'is so dire war may erupt'
The economic crisis is so dire millions will face poverty, unrest and even war if banks are not cleaned up, the global finance regulator is warning.
Recovery was impossible until the financial sector become smaller and healthier, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund, said yesterday.
'Bluntly, the situation is dire,' he warned. 'This will dramaticall... Read More
24th March 2009 - By J. Higgison - 0 Comments - Add Comment
< pan class="green">Obama unveils £345bn package to buy toxic assets
The US yesterday launched a fresh bid to beat the recession - a £345billion buy-out of 'toxic' assets to help banks balance their books. President Barack Obama said he was 'very confident' the rescue package - which could rise to £690billion - would pull America out of its worst banking crisis in 70 years.
Toxic mortgages and securities which cripple banks because they cannot be sold or valu... Read More
24th March 2009 - By Metro - 0 Comments - Add Comment
Gordon Brown pushes for world reduction in nuclear weapons as he makes Iran offer
The UK is to push for a new multilateral deal to reduce the number of nuclear weapons stockpiled around the world, Gordon Brown said today, as he pledged that Britain was "ready" to reduce its own number of Trident warheads.
In his first speech on nuclear disarmament since May, Brown said that a new deal to reduce world stockpiles of atomic weapons was close.
"Britain... Read More
17th March 2009 - by Metro - 0 Comments - Add Comment
Obama Enlists Campaign Army In Budget Fight
President Obama will kick off an all-out grass-roots effort today urging Congress to pass his $3.55 trillion budget, activating the extensive campaign apparatus he built during his successful 2008 candidacy for the first time since taking office.
The campaign, which will be run under the aegis of the Democratic National Committee, will rely heavily on the 13 million-strong e-mail li... Read More
17th March 2009 - by C. Hass - 0 Comments - Add Comment
EU may have to print money to survive global crisis
The EU may need to print money to get out of the economic crisis, the governor of the Central Bank warned yesterday.
John Hurley spoke as the Bank of England began a process of "quantitative easing" -- to pump cash into the British economy. However, this has led to a fall in the value of the pound and could trigger inflation in the future.
Asked directly about the prospect of... Read More
11th March 2009 - by T Molloy - 0 Comments - Add Comment
Worst crisis since 1930s says Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke
Mr Bernanke argues that the roots of the current global economic downturn stem from global imbalances in trade and flows of capital in the late 1990s.
In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, he argues that the US and its trading partners did not do enough to redress these imbalances.
He also says future economic recovery depends on financial stability.
'Ch... Read More
11th March 2009 - by BBC - 0 Comments - Add Comment
Gordon Brown sets out global banking reform
Mr Brown set out his stall in a speech to the Scottish Labour Conference in Dundee where he outlined the prospect of an agreement worldwide to curb banking excesses.
It also included bringing tax havens into the regulatory net, ensuring the whole financial system remained in good health and a framework for international financial supervision.
"I believe there is an emerging c... Read More
6th March 2009 - by Yahoo - 0 Comments - Add Comment
We all need to show humility for the economic crisis
Gordon Brown inched nearer yesterday to issuing an apology for the Government's role in the financial crisis.
Pressed on the failure of the regulatory system he set up as Chancellor, the Prime Minister said: 'We took action on the financial sector but I accept that we should have done more.
'The problem is that you are always trying to keep up with sophisticated techniques ... Read More
4th March 2009 - by J. Chapman - 0 Comments - Add Comment
Standard Chartered shrugs off worst of financial crisis
Peter Sands, chief executive, acknowledged that "2009 is going to be challenging" but said the downturn in Asia, Africa and the Middle East will be "shorter and shallower than in the west" as they "do not face the structural de-leveraging afflicting western markets".
Warning against comparisons with the 1990s Asian crisis, he said: "Most countries have substantial foreign currency reserve... Read More
3rd March 2009 - by P. Aldrick - 0 Comments - Add Comment
China's economy shows early signs of recovery
The Chinese economy is showing tentative signs of recovery, but analysts said that it was still too early to declare that the worst of the downturn was over.
The official purchasing managers' index (PMI), a key gauge of Chinese manufacturing, improved in February for the third month in a row as factories restocked in anticipation of an early revival in the economy despite deepening glob... Read More
5th March 2009 - by The Times - 0 Comments - Add Comment
Gordon Brown brings economic optimism to US Congress
Gordon Brown predicted yesterday that two decades of growth would follow the global recession and called on America to lead the world to recovery.
In a strikingly upbeat speech in Washington he suggested that the world economy would double in size over the next 20 years as people in the Third World became consumers of goods produced in the West.
In an enthusiastically receive... Read More
5th March 2009 - by The Times - 0 Comments - Add Comment
Top 10 anti-Barack Obama conservatives
This week, Republican activists are meeting in Washington for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. With President Barack Obama in the White House and Democrats in control of both houses of Congress, the Grand Old Party is at a low ebb.
So who are the figures who might help lead the American Right out of the wilderness? It's a difficult question to answer because conservatives ar... Read More
27th Feb 2009 - by T. Harnden - 0 Comments - Add Comment
Barack Obama canceled press conference with Gordon Brown "because of snow"
Strange goings on surrounding the programme for the first day of Gordon Brown's visit to Washington.
No sooner had the Prime Minister's plane touched down at Andrews Air Force on Monday evening when word was passed to travelling Westminster correspondents that the press conference they'd been told to expect had been called off "because of snow".
Hours earlier, at around 4pm E... Read More
3rd March 2009 - by T. Harnden - 0 Comments - Add Comment