French workers held nationwide strikes for the sixth time in two months, in response to President Nicolas Sarkozy's planned pension system overhaul, which faces a final parliamentary vote on October 21. Trade unions are threatening continued open-ended strikes if the government holds onto its reform plans, which are aimed at balancing the pension system's budget by 2016. The reforms would increase the minimum retirement age to 62 from 60, and raise the age of full entitlements to 67 from 65, according to Roubini Global Economics.
The UK has announced the results of the first strategic defense and security review since 1998. Prime Minister David Cameron told lawmakers that there would be an 8% cut (in real terms) to the annual £37 billion defense budget over the next four years. Cameron also set out the details of cuts to weapons programs. The U.S. and others have raised concerns about Britain's longer-term expeditionary capability.
No comments:
Post a Comment