WASHINGTON - US jobless rolls jumped to a record peak in mid-January, while new orders for durable goods fell for a fifth straight month in December, data showed on Thursday, underscoring the deepening economic malaise.
The latest batch of grim data fanned worries that the year-long recession, triggered by the collapse of the US housing market, could be the worst economic slump since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
PARIS - MORE than a million French public sector workers staged a massive strike on Thursday, as anger at President Nicolas Sarkozy's handling of the economic crisis erupted in a day of protest.
Billed as a 'Black Thursday', the day of action failed to halt the Paris transport network, but support for the strike was significant, with 23 per cent of France's five million public sector workers downing tools.
