Swiss banking giant UBS AG to cut about 10,000 jobs worldwide

 

Swiss banking giant UBS has announced plans to slash some 10,000 jobs worldwide

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/10/30/269503/swiss-banking-giant-to-cut-10000-jobs/

The largest bank in Switzerland, UBS AG, has announced plans to cut about 10,000 jobs worldwide, as the economic crisis in the European country continues to worsen.

"This decision has been a difficult one, particularly in a business such as ours that is all about its people. Some reductions will result from natural attrition and we will take whatever measures we can to mitigate the overall effect,” UBS chief executive Sergio Ermotti said in a statement released on Tuesday.

According to the statement, the decision is part of a restructuring plan devised in response to the global economic downturn and the European financial crisis.

Reports say that the Zurich-based bank aims to save over three billion dollars until the end of 2015.

The bank has also posted a net loss of 2.3 billion dollars in the third quarter of 2012.

Since the beginning of the financial crisis in Europe, UBS which employs more than 63,000 people, has been hit by billions of dollars in trading losses, management mishaps and scandals.

Last year, the Swiss bank said it would cut only 5 percent of its workforce, or about 3,500 jobs. It also appointed new executives that have promised to emphasize the bank’s wealth management business and decrease its capital markets activities.

Europe plunged into the financial crisis in early 2008. Insolvency now threatens heavily debt-ridden countries such as Greece, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Spain.

The worsening debt crisis has forced the EU governments to adopt harsh austerity measures and tough economic reforms, which have triggered incidents of social unrest and massive protests in many European countries.

‘Wake up, Poland!’: Thousands take to streets in Warsaw for antigovernment protest

People demonstrate on September 29, 2012 in Warsaw against Poland's centrist government in a rally called by unions, an ultra-Catholic movement and politicians (AFP Photo / Janek Skarzynski)

Source: Russia Today

Tens of thousands of people marched through the capital of Poland on Saturday in protest over government reforms and a new law that raises the retirement age, and in solidarity with the Catholic Church, which was recently stripped of its TV station.

­Dubbed 'Wake Up, Poland,' the rally was organized by the country's conservative Law and Justice opposition party, led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the trade union Solidarity and other groups. The event was Poland's biggest demonstration in several months.

Thousands of participants gather at mass before a march against government policies organized by main right-wing opposition party Law and Justice (PiS) and Solidarnosc trade union at Three Crosses Square in Warsaw September 29, 2012 (Reuters / Kacper Pempel)

­Addressing protesters gathered in Warsaw's Castle Square, Kaczynski said that, “These huge crowds mean strength. They mean that Poland has awakened. More and more Poles will be awakening. The cup of evil has overflowed. We Poles, we Polish patriots say ‘no,’” Reuters reported.

A key issue for the protesters is a new retirement law enacted by the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk that will gradually raise the country's retirement age to 67, from 60 for women and 65 for men. The change will be phased in for men by 2020 and for women by 2040. Starting in 2013, the retirement age will be increased by three months every year. The law is the subject of furious public debate throughout the country.

A participant is seen with a taped mouth as a sign of a silent protest during a march against government policies organized by main right-wing opposition party Law and Justice (PiS) and Solidarnosc trade union in Warsaw September 29, 2012 (Reuters / Kacper Pempel)

­Participants also expressed anger at a decision by the Polish National Broadcasting Council to strip a Catholic TV station, TV Trwam, of its right to broadcast digitally for free. Protesters claimed the move was a blow to freedom of expression and an attempt to silence their conservative Catholic worldview.

According to an AP report, the broadcasting council claimed the station lost its transmission rights because of a lack of transparency in its funding.

"Our presence here is a sign of opposition to the discrimination against Catholic media and TV Trwam," leading conservative politician Zbigniew Ziobro told protesters, the AP reported.

The rally was nonviolent, with many protesters singing patriotic and religious songs and holding up rosaries and portraits of the Virgin Mary. Before the protest march, a Catholic Mass was held at Three Crosses Square in downtown Warsaw.

Demonstrators hold Polish national flags during an opposition rally in Warsaw on September 29, 2012 (AFP Photo / Janek Skarzynski)

A boy holds a Polish national flag as thousands of participants gather at mass before a march against government policies organized by main right-wing opposition party Law and Justice (PiS) and Solidarnosc trade union at Three Crosses Square in Warsaw September 29, 2012 (Reuters / Kacper Pempel)

Israel forces out Palestinians from WB

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122986§ionid=351020202

Israel orders the expulsion of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank under a new decree that describes tens of thousands of them as infiltrator.

The order stipulates the expulsion of Palestinians whose ID cards bear home addresses in the Gaza Strip or those who were born in the West Bank or abroad but for various reasons have lost their residency status.

Under the new order which will come into force this week, the above mentioned people are defined as infiltrator, Haaretz reported.

"A person is presumed to be an infiltrator if he is present in the area without a document or permit which attest to his lawful presence in the area without reasonable justification."

Under the order which puts Palestinians under the sole jurisdiction of Israeli military courts, tens of thousands of residents of the West Bank will be forced out or will be indicted on charges carrying prison terms of up to seven years.

According to the order, the term infiltrator will also be applied to Palestinian residents of Jerusalem al-Quds and citizens of countries with which Israel has friendly ties.

Thousands march in Jerusalem rally

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/03/2010362141312196.html


At least 3,000 protesters, including Israelis and Palestinians, have rallied in an Arab quarter of east Jerusalem to protest the eviction of Palestinians from their homes there in favor of Jewish settlers.

The protesters waved red flags bearing the inscription "Shalom," or peace in Hebrew, during the demonstration in Sheikh Jarrah on Saturday.

They chanted slogans such as "No to ethnic cleansing," and "Sheikh Jarrah residents don't lose hope, we are blocking the road to settlement."

A large Israeli police contingent watched over the demonstration, the largest of its kind for several decades against Jewish settlements in Jerusalem.

Police had intended to ban the gathering, but it was finally approved by the supreme court on an appeal launched by the far-left movement.

Old City evictions

The demonstration came amid tensions in the Old City after days of clashes between Israeli riot police and Palestinian protesters in and around the Al-Aqsa mosque and several Arab neighbourhoods of Jerusalem.

Several Palestinian families of Sheikh Jarrah have been expelled in recent months in favour of Israeli settlers on the grounds their houses belonged to Jews before the creation of Israel in 1948.

The evictions led to demonstrations that were put down by the police who arrested Israeli peace activists and pro-Palestinian foreigners.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem after the 1967 Middle East war and built new quarters to house more than 200,000 Israelis.

The annexation has never been recognised by the international community. Palestinians denounce settlements in east Jerusalem, which they want to make the capital of their future state.

In early February, the daily Haaretz revealed Israeli authorities had given the green light to a project to build 600 homes in an area set aside for settlement in the eastern sector.