WASHINGTON - THE pace of US job losses slowed sharply last month, the strongest sign to date that the recession is diminishing, even as the unemployment rate hit its highest in nearly 26 years.
The Labour Department said on Friday that US employers cut 345,000 jobs in May, the fewest since September and far less than economists had forecast. They cut 504,000 jobs in April.
BANGKOK - PORNTHIP Rojanasunand, director of Thailand's Central Institute of Forensic Science, said Carradine may have died attempting a sex act known as auto-erotic asphyxiation - cutting off oxygen to the brain for sexual arousal.
The body of American actor David Carradine, best known for the 1970s TV series 'Kung Fu,' was found in a hotel room closet with a rope tied to his neck and genitals, and his death may have been caused by accidental suffocation, Thai police said on Friday.
CHIEF executives at a dialogue on Friday gave the thumbs-up to the $4.5 billion Jobs Credit scheme, saying the wage subsidy payout helped them avert layoffs in this recession.
One even enthused: 'Extend for another year!'
The exuberant response from 25 CEOs cheered Education Minister Ng Eng Hen, who had sought their feedback during a panel discussion at a breakfast dialogue.
BEIJING - CHINA said on Friday it could invest up to US$50 billion (S$72 billion) in the International Monetary Fund's first-ever bonds, state media reported, in yet another sign of the nation's growing financial muscle.
'If the IMF bonds meet our requirements in terms of safety and return on investment, we will actively consider buying up to $50 billion of bonds,' an unnamed official said, according to the Xinhua news agency.
