The Hellenic Radio (ERA): News in English, 09-02-28

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From: The Hellenic Radio (ERA) <www.ert.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] In the Swirl of the Crisis

Both the banking sector and the auto industry have been plunged into the crisis. Major companies close their plans and make redundant several people in a drive to bring the production cost down. General Motors said it will have cut 47,000 jobs worldwide by the end of the year. Wall Street ended another unforgiving month with a steep loss - one that left the Dow Jones industrial average at less than half its record high. The deal foreseen Citigroup's partial nationalization, the dive of General Electric's share by 68 percent in the last four months and the downfall of the country's GDP scooped investors. Amidst the financial crisis, the leaders and top officials from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations are gathered in the Thai resort town of Cha-Am, 200 kilometers south of the capital Bangkok, for their 14th annual summit. Among the goals of their summit is to create a union similar to the European one by 2015.

In the meantime, the auto industry has turned into an Achilles' heel for Europe. Being the continent with the world's biggest car output annually, Europe has seen sales diving by 27 percent in January.

German automaker Opel requires a state aid of â¬3.3bn, said General Motors, which announced it will cut 47,000 jobs.

German tyre group Continental plans to close a French plant and cut some 1,500 jobs, the Europe 1 radio station reported on Saturday quoting labour union sources, while Mercedes Benz and BMW are considering joining forces in certain sectors to bring production cost down.

News item: 19537

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