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Britain to slash 5 lakh govt jobs
Fresh violence in Karachi, toll 55
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No discussion with Pak on civil N-deal: US
Washington, October 20 The US, which is being pressed by Pakistan for a civil nuclear deal on the lines of one it inked with India, has said that it is not in discussion with Islamabad on the issue.
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Britain to slash 5 lakh govt jobs
London, October 20 After months of bitter negotiations, Conservative Finance Minister George Osborne confirmed he would press ahead with almost all spending cuts he had outlined in June budget. However, capital spending, he said, would be £2 billion higher per year than originally planned because of the difficulty in getting out of contractual obligations. “Tackling this budget deficit is unavoidable. The decisions about how we do it are not. There are choices. And today we make them. Investment in the future rather than the bills of past failure. That is our choice,” Osborne told parliament. Economists are split between those who say the drastic action is needed and those who argue it will tip Britain back into recession. Almost all agree, however, that growth will slow and the Bank of England (BoE) will have to keep monetary policy super-loose for foreseeable future. Osborne said the state pension age for men and women would rise to 66 by 2020. “Raising the state pension age is what many countries are now doing, and will by the end of the next parliament, save over £5 billion in a year.” He said he would also cut a further £7 billion off the welfare budget on top of the £11 billion of reductions he identified in June. Around 490,000 public sector jobs were likely to disappear over the next four years. Unions have already decried the likely job losses. But public opposition to the cuts in Britain has so far been muted compared with France, where unions are trying to force a
retreat on pension reform with protests, including blockades of fuel depots. There have also been protests against the austerity budget that Spain’s parliament is due to approve on Wednesday, while in Portugal unions have called a general strike for November 24 as the minority government bargains for support in parliament for measures needed to shore up investor confidence. The British Government is braced for an uproar, but Osborne said he had no choice given the need to cut a record budget deficit of 11 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) - the highest in the G7 -- to around 2 per cent in 5 years, a fiscal tightening of around £113 billion, a quarter of which will come from tax rises. No previous British Government has tried anything as ambitious and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research think tank said on Wednesday it thought the government could only push through half the planned cuts. The latest Reuters/Ipsos MORI political monitor on Tuesday showed 38 per cent of people believe the centre-right Conservatives have the best economic policies compared to a quarter who preferred the opposition Labour Party’s stance. The Liberal Democrats, the junior coalition partners, have seen their support plummet in most elections as they have become party to policies they did not support before May’s election. Much will depend on how the economy copes with the fiscal tightening. For now, the consensus is that Britain will achieve slow growth for a couple of years as the private sector picks up the baton from a deflated public sector. The latest Reuters poll of economists’ forecasts is for GDP growth of 1.6 per cent this year and 1.8 per cent next year. But some economists say the growth could stall because of the cuts. Many business and consumer confidence measures are already waning even before the measures begin.
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Fresh violence in Karachi, toll 55
Karachi / Islamabad Oct 20 The attack in the city's biggest junk market for car spare parts took place late last night as the gunmen opened indiscriminate fire on passers by without stopping their bikes, killing 12 persons and wounding many others. Around 31 people were killed in different firing incidents including the attack in the Kabari market in Shershah area since yesterday, the police and rescue officials said, taking the overall toll to 55. The Prime Minister said target killings in Karachi were a matter of deep concern and the government was trying its best to arrest the wave of violence. He said the government would rely on the police and para-military Rangers to bring the situation under control. The Pakhtun nationalist party Awami National Party (ANP) has demanded that army be deployed to restore peace in Karachi. Gilani dismissed remarks by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader and deputy minister, Nabeel Gabol, of calling the army to take control of the city. He said the army could be called in to assist the civilian government, but added that “the political leadership of the country was capable of containing the situation”. — PTI/TNS
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No discussion with Pak on civil N-deal: US
Washington, October 20 "We're not in any discussions with the Pakistanis on civil nuclear cooperation," Frank Ruggiero, US Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, told reporters yesterday on the eve of the third round of Strategic Dialogue between the two countries. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who is in the US for the Strategic dialogue, again sought a civil nuclear agreement with America akin to the US-India nuclear deal, during a speech at the prestigious Harvard Kennedy School in Boston yesterday. "We certainly seek that because we feel that there should be no discrimination," Qureshi said when asked if Pakistan wanted civil nuclear agreements like those signed by India with the US and other countries. The Pakistani delegation to the dialogue is led by Qureshi and also includes the country's powerful army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. — PTI
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Indian murdered in Malaysia Chinese aim: Train at 500 kmph Ex-British PM Thatcher hospitalised
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