MONTREAL - CANADA shed a much worse than expected 129,000 jobs in January, sending unemployment up 0.6 per cent to 7.2 per cent, Statistics Canada said on Friday.
LONDON - THE number of companies in England and Wales shut down for good soared in the fourth quarter of 2008 as the recession tightened its grip, government figures showed on Friday.
The Insolvency Service said the number of companies going into liquidation in the fourth quarter was 4,607, 11.9 per cent higher than the previous quarter and 51.6 per cent ahead of the same period the previous year.
TOKYO - GRIM corporate earnings data from the world's biggest automaker and thousands of job losses underscored on Friday the urgency driving debate over Washington's massive economic stimulus plan.
Japan's Toyota Motor forecast an operating loss of US$4.9 billion (S$7.37 billion) for the financial year to March, after already losing US$4.0 billion in the third quarter alone as the global crisis sends car sales plunging.
ZURICH - SWITZERLAND'S unemployment rate rose to a two-year high in January, data showed on Friday, as companies axed jobs at a faster rate in reaction to the economic downturn.
