NEWS,03.05.2013

US job market shows strength in April

US employment rose more than expected in April and hiring was much stronger than previously thought in the prior two months, easing concerns that belt-tightening in Washington was dealing a big blow to the economy.
Nonfarm payrolls rose 165 000 last month and the jobless rate fell to 7.5%, the lowest level since December 2008, the Labour Department said on Friday.
Payrolls rose by 138 000 jobs in March, 50 000 more than previously reported, and job growth for February was revised up by 64 000 to 332 000, the largest gain since May 2010.
"Overall, a strong set of numbers which will reassure markets that the U.S. economy is not as weak as it may have seemed given some of the earlier data," said Andrew Grantham, an economist at CIBC World Markets in Toronto.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected April payrolls to rise 145 000 and the unemployment rate to hold steady at 7.6%.
US stocks rallied on the data, while government bonds fell hard. The dollar strengthened against the yen and pared losses against the euro.
The drop in the jobless rate reflected a gain in employment, rather than people leaving the workforce. The workforce actually expanded, while the labor force participation rate - the share of working-age Americans who either have a job or are looking for one - held steady at a 34-year low of 63.3%.
Still, some details of the report remained consistent with a slowdown in economic activity. Construction employment fell for the first time since May, while manufacturing payrolls were flat.
The average workweek pulled off a nine-month high, with a gauge of the overall work effort falling, but average hourly earnings rose four cents.
The relative strength of the data was particularly surprising given other recent signs that suggested the economy had slowed sharply in recent weeks. Although the economy expanded at a 2.5% annual pace in the first quarter, a wide range of data suggested it ended the period with less speed. Further, factory activity barely grew in April.
Fiscal headwinds
Economists feared uncertainty over the full impact of higher taxes and deep government spending cuts on already sluggish demand was making businesses reluctant to hire. A 2% payroll tax cut ended at the start of the year, and $85bn in federal budget cuts went into effect on March 1.
"The idea that the employment is holding as well as it is in the face of the fiscal headwinds the economy is currently enduring is a very positive sign of the economy's underlying fundamental improvements," said Russell Price, senior economist at Ameriprise Financial Services in Troy, Michigan.
While the pace of hiring was stronger than expected in April, it remained below the pace needed to put a significant dent in the jobless rate.
Economists said the data did not appear strong enough to dissuade officials at the Federal Reserve from pressing forward with their bond-buying stimulus, although it could cool speculation the US central bank would step up its purchases.
On Wednesday, the Fed said it would continue to buy $85bn in bonds each month and that it would increase purchases should the need arise.
"I don't think today's data is strong enough to completely offset some of the weakness we have seen in some other areas, such as overall manufacturing activity and the general pace of economic growth, so I think the Fed will remain fully engaged," said Price.
All the job gains last month were in the private sector, which added 176 000 new positions. Gains were led by a rebound in retail employment, which had dropped in March after eight straight months of increases. Retail payrolls rose 29 300.
But construction employment surprisingly fell, shedding 6 000 jobs after 10 straight months of gains. Residential construction has been marching higher and the pullback in construction jobs could be the result of cold weather in April.
Manufacturing employment posted no gains last month.
Government payrolls dropped 11 000 after falling 16 000 in March. Most of the job declines last month came from the federal government and the US Postal Service.

Obama reaches out to Mexican young

President Barack Obama and Mexico's new president, Enrique Pena Nieto, are stepping gingerly to avoid any suggestion of meddling in each other's most contentious issues.
Instead, Obama is drawing attention to the cultural ties that have linked the two nations and the economic bonds that have begun to take hold more recently.
Obama was to deliver a speech on Friday to an audience made up primarily of students, highlighting the role they can play in deciding Mexico's future and promoting the type of broad exchanges he envisions under a new immigration regime in the United States.
After his speech, Obama was to meet privately with Mexican businessmen, where he would stress the commercial ties between the two countries. Mexico is the second-largest export market for US goods and services.
Later, he was to travel to Costa Rica, where he planned to deliver a blunter message to Central American leaders struggling with weak economies and drug violence.
Obama was to meet with Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla, then attend a gathering of leaders from the Central American Integration system. The regional network also includes the leaders of Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
The US view of the region is that its pervasive violence and security weaknesses are holding back economic growth, and that with fewer Mexicans crossing the border illegally, the rest of the region has become the main source of illegal immigration into the United States.
New initiatives
As a result, Obama is expected to call for stepped up security co-operation, regional economic integration, and improvements in human rights and democratic reforms.
Friday's Mexico City speech comes as Obama's popularity in Mexico has risen over recent years and as views of the United States also improve. A Pew Research Centre poll in March found that two-thirds of Mexicans have a favourable opinion of the US, compared with 44% favorability in 2010.
About half of Mexicans have confidence that Obama will do the right thing on world affairs, up from 38% in 2011.
Still, dozens of migrant families deported from the US even though their children were born there rallied outside the US Embassy before Obama's arrival on Thursday. "Obama, don't deport my Mama", one sign said. So far, the Obama administration has deported more than 1.6 million people.
For all the attention to commerce and trade, the visit to Mexico less than two days long  was not designed for major breakthroughs or new initiatives. Indeed, on one of the top economic pacts before them, the two presidents merely reaffirmed a goal to conclude negotiations this year on a Trans-Pacific Partnership, an Asia-Pacific trading bloc that is key to Obama's efforts to boost exports to Asia.
Both men, however, did announce a new partnership to build on the business relationship with closer cooperation between top officials in Mexico and the US, including Vice President Joe Biden.
At a joint news conference on Thursday, Obama and Pena Nieto carefully sidestepped potential trouble spots. Obama steered clear of commenting on Pena Nieto's decision to end the broad access that US security agencies have had in Mexico to combat drug trafficking, a decision that has alarmed some US officials.
Domestic affair
"President Pena Nieto and his team are organizing a vision about how they can most efficiently and effectively address these issues," Obama said. "And we will interact with them in ways that are appropriate, respecting that ultimately Mexico has to deal with its problems internally and we have to deal with ours as well."
For his part, Pena Nieto declined to get drawn into the current immigration debate in Washington, a top priority for Obama but one that is at a delicate stage in Congress. Asked to comment on the debate, the Mexican president merely said that the Mexican government acknowledged the efforts under way in Congress.
"Mexico understands that this is a domestic affair for the US and we wish you the best push that you're giving to immigration," he said.
Likewise, he demurred when asked to react to the failure in the Senate to pass gun control legislation, including an expanded background check for firearms buyers, even though many guns obtained illegally in the United States make their way into the hands of drug dealers in Mexico.
He said he agreed with Obama's campaign to stem gun violence, but added: "This is a domestic issue in the United States."
Obama vowed to keep pressing for gun legislation, saying: "We recognise we've got obligations when it comes to guns that are oftentimes being shipped down South and contributing to violence here in Mexico."

Conservatives suffer in UK local votes

David Cameron's Conservative Party has taken a beating in local elections amid a surge of support for an anti-European Union and anti-immigration party, heaping pressure on the prime minister to shore up support ahead of the next general election.

The early results on Friday show that the right-wing United Kingdom Independence Party, or UKIP, won 42 county council seats, while the opposition Labour Party gained 26. The Liberal Democrats - junior partners in Britain's coalition government - were down 16 county council seats, while Cameron's ruling Conservatives lost 74 seats.

UKIP leader Nigel Farage whose party Cameron once referred to as a bunch of "fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists" said the results will send a "shock wave" through the British political establishment.

"This is a real sea-change in British politics," Farage told the BBC.

The rise of UKIP adds to pressure on Cameron to staunch a flow of voters from his party ahead of the next general election in 2015 and to take a harder line on European reform and immigration.

The results could lend momentum to voices within Cameron's party urging the prime minister to introduce legislation needed to enshrine his pledge for a referendum on European Union membership by 2017.

Michael Fabricant, the Conservative Party's vice-chairperson, confessed he was unsure what voters were saying. "'I hope there will be some serious research about exactly WHAT message UKIP voters are giving: none-of-the-above, or specific issues," he said in a Twitter message.

Voting took place in 34 council contests across England, plus the Isle of Anglesey in Wales.

North Korea Report: Pentagon Says Pyongyang Still Working Toward Goal Of Being Able To Strike U.S. With Nukes

North Korea "will move closer" to its announced goal of being able to strike the U.S. with a nuclear-armed missile if it keeps investing in tests of nuclear and missile technology, the Pentagon said Thursday in a report to Congress.
The unclassified version of the report, which was required by a 2012 law, offered no estimate of when North Korea might achieve that capability. It said the pace of progress will depend in part on how many resources are invested.
The report fits an established U.S. intelligence picture of North Korea making an enormous effort to become a nuclear power and of an economically poor country directing a disproportionate amount of resources to its military.
Much about North Korea is a mystery to Western intelligence agencies, including the intentions of its leader, Kim Jong Un, who came to power after his father, Kim Jong Il, died in December 2011. The Pentagon report said the U.S. foresees little change in North Korea's key strategic aims, which it said to include using "coercive diplomacy" to compel acceptance of its security interests, as well as developing a nuclear arsenal and undermining of the U.S.-South Korean alliance.
"We anticipate these strategic goals will be consistent under North Korea's new leader, Kim Jong Un," it said.
U.S. intelligence agencies are not fully in agreement on how far North Korea has advanced in its effort to make a nuclear weapon small enough to fit atop a ballistic missile. In April, a U.S. congressman disclosed that the Defense Intelligence Agency believes with "moderate confidence" that the North could deliver a nuclear weapon by ballistic missile but with "low reliability." The DIA assessment did not mention the potential range of such a strike.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, the top U.S. intelligence official, said shortly after the DIA assessment was made public that its conclusion was not shared by other intelligence agencies. Clapper said North Korea has made progress but has not "fully developed, tested or demonstrated the full range of capabilities necessary for a nuclear-armed missile."
In its report Thursday, the Pentagon made no mention of the DIA report.
The Pentagon asserted that North Korea wants to leverage the perception that it poses a nuclear threat in order to counter technologically superior forces. South Korea, which does not have nuclear weapons, has a modern military that benefits greatly from a close alliance with the U.S. There are about 28,500 American troops based in the South.
The Pentagon report noted that North Korea has recently showcased its advances in missile technology, including an April 2012 parading of a new road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile that the Pentagon says has not been flight tested.
"These advances in ballistic missile delivery systems, coupled with developments in nuclear technology ... are in line with North Korea's stated objective of being able to strike the U.S. homeland," the report said.
After a February 2013 nuclear test, North Korea made what the Pentagon called "authoritative public announcements" of its desire to field nuclear-armed missiles with sufficient range to attack targets in the United States.
"North Korea will move closer to this goal, as well as increase the threat it poses to U.S. forces and allies in the region, if it continues testing and devoting scarce regime resources to these programs," the report said.
Earlier this year, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a series of bellicose threats to attack South Korea, Japan or the United States with nuclear weapons, sparking tough rhetoric in return. In response, the Pentagon in April announced plans to beef up its missile defenses by deploying 14 additional missile interceptors at a military base in Alaska.
Thursday's Pentagon report said the North's work on a space-launch vehicle has contributed heavily to its effort to build a missile capable of reaching the U.S. with a nuclear warhead. That work was highlighted by the launch of a satellite into space last December.
But it added that the North has yet to test a re-entry vehicle, without which it cannot deliver a warhead to a target. A workable re-entry vehicle is necessary to get a warhead back into Earth's atmosphere with protection against severe heating.
The report also projected that North Korea under Kim will stick to its current strategic priorities, including developing nuclear weapons to deter any attack from outside powers and trying to undermine the alliance between the United States and South Korea.

NEWS,02.05.2013

Obama Mexico Trip: Drug War, Trade At Center Of Meetings With Enrique Peña Nieto

 

US President Barack Obama headed to Mexico on Thursday to put trade back at the heart of bilateral ties, but his southern neighbor's shifting drug war tactics loom large over the visit.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto hosts Obama on the first stop of a three-day trip that will also take him to Costa Rica for a summit with Central American leaders, with trade, US immigration reform and the battle against drug cartels high on the agenda.
After almost seven years of bloodshed by drug gangs that has left 70,000 people dead in Mexico, Pena Nieto and Obama have both made clear they want to turn the spotlight back on trade ties and other matters.
"We've spent so much time on security issues between the United States and Mexico that sometimes I think we forget this is a massive trading partner responsible for huge amounts of commerce and huge numbers of jobs on both sides of the border," Obama said on Tuesday.
Twenty years into the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), also including Canada, Mexico is Washington's third-ranked trade partner, with $500 billion exchanged every year.
Mexico and Washington want to "talk about the benefits and the need to re-balance and diversify the relationship," Sergio Alcocer, Mexico's deputy foreign minister for North America, told AFP.
Before Obama's departure, the United States announced the creation of a bilateral forum on higher education, innovation and research to broaden educational exchanges.
But the relationship has been marked by deep cooperation in the fight against powerful drug cartels that make billions of dollars by feeding cocaine, marijuana and heroin to US addicts.
The United States is providing $1.9 billion in aid, including police training and crime-fighting equipment, to help Mexico fight the drug gangs.
Pena Nieto, who visited Obama in Washington shortly before taking office in December, wants to refocus the drug war on reducing the wave of violence plaguing his country.
While he is keeping troops that were deployed in the streets by his predecessor for now, he has launched a new strategy that includes a crime prevention program and a shift in the way Mexico will work with US law enforcement.
His predecessor, Felipe Calderon, forged unprecedented security ties with Washington by allowing US agencies to deal directly with Mexican counterparts during his six-year administration.
But the new government wants to channel all security matters through a "one-stop window," the powerful interior ministry, which has been tasked with coordinating Mexico's fight against organized crime.
Obama said he was not yet ready to judge how Pena Nieto's strategy would change security relations until he had spoken to him.
"At this point, we're confident that we're going to have a good constructive and effective security relationship with Mexico, and we look forward to hearing from them about how they plan to go forward with it," said Obama's advisor for Latin America, Ricardo Zuniga.
Rights groups want Obama to address the high level of impunity in Mexico, with Reporters Without Borders urging the US leader to commit to helping "restore the rule of law and civil liberties" in a country where 86 journalists have been killed in the past 10 years.
Pena Nieto will hold talks with Obama at the historic National Palace, with tight security around the building famous for its Diego Rivera murals, before hosting a dinner at the Los Pinos presidential residence.
Obama then travels to San Jose on Friday for a summit with Central American leaders before returning to Washington the next day.
With 11 million undocumented migrants living in the United States two thirds of them from Mexico regional leaders will want to discuss Obama's push for comprehensive immigration reform.

ECB cuts interest rate to historic low

The European Central Bank cut its key interest rate to a historic low and extended unlimited cheap loans to banks to try and help the flagging European area economy climb out of a stubborn recession - with ECB President Mario Draghi holding out the prospect more help was on the way.

The bank's governing council lowered the benchmark refinancing rate Thursday to 0.50% from 0.75%t and President Mario Draghi left open the possibility of cutting rates even further.
And the bank extended its all-you-want policies on its regular loans to banks. That means lenders can get as much funding as they feel they need at the bank's low rate, through at least July of next year.
Yet Draghi had only a sketchy proposal of how to solve what he and other bank officials say is the real problem: that the bank's low rates aren't being passed on to small and medium-sized companies in heavily indebted countries that could use such stimulus the most.
Draghi said that ECB officials were working with the European Union's executive commission and the European Investment Bank lending agency about creating a market for securities backed by loans to businesses, a step that could free up more money for lending. Small businesses are key because they provide most of the jobs in the eurozone.
Most economists had expected a cut after recent economic indicators gave alarming signs that the ECB's prediction for a recovery by year-end might not be coming true. Draghi stuck with that prediction but said there were risks that "could dampen confidence and delay the recovery."
Draghi only added the bank would "look at all the incoming data, monitor them closely, and stand ready to act if needed"language similar to that which preceded Thursday's cut.
He also warned that governments could derail the recovery if they fail to take steps to right their finances and make their economies more business-friendly, such as by cutting excessive regulation on hiring and firing.

Executive Pay Of Austerity Advocates Saves Companies More Than $1 Billion Via Tax Loophole

 

Companies in the Fix the Debt coalition, which advocates for federal austerity policies, qualified for $1 billion or more in tax breaks tied to executive pay packages from 2009 to 2011, according to a new report by the liberal think tanks Institute for Policy Studies and Campaign for America's Future.
The four highest-paid executives at the firms received a total of $6.3 billion in pay over the period, according to the report. Federal tax law allows companies to deduct executive pay based on performance from the firm's tax bill as a business expense. This performance-based compensation includes stock options, stock awards and other types of incentive pay. These 90 companies qualified for tax perks totaling between $1 billion and $1.5 billion over the course of three years, depending on how many types of pay firms actually deducted.
Companies can choose to be more or less aggressive about their tax deductions, and some types of incentive pay exist in a gray area where certain companies choose to claim deductions and others do not. Firms do not make their tax filings public, although they release estimates of overall taxes paid in SEC filings. The IPS-CAF study was based on actual payments to executives that were taxable in the years 2009, 2010 and 2011 that would have qualified for deductions, but whether firms chose to take them is not a matter of public record.
Fix the Debt is one of several austerity advocacy groups tied to Wall Street billionaire Peter Peterson, who started a think tank devoted to deficit reduction in 2008 and has bankrolled multiple public relations campaigns on the issue.
A total of 125 CEOs are officially members of the coalition, including CEOs of 90 public companies. The IPS-CAF report only examined tax perks for public companies in the coalition. The same CEO pay loophole is available to private companies, but private firms do not have to disclose executive pay to the SEC.
The coalition urges a host of spending cuts and tax reforms, including benefit cuts for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, as a means to reduce the federal budget deficit. A spokesman for the group told  that while the group doesn't advocate for specific policies, it does insist that comprehensive tax reform be part of any debt deal.
"It's a lot easier for groups like this to sit on the sidelines and throw stones than to talk about the 4 million meals that are going to be eliminated for seniors because Congress wouldn't pass a debt deal," Fix the Debt spokesman Jon Romano said. "All of our supporters understand that there is going to be pain associated with a comprehensive debt deal and that people are going to have to give something up to get a debt deal in place. But everything has to be on the table. We're a campaign about fixing the debt. This is not about protecting special interests, this about what's in the best interest of the American people."
The group is currently airing an online video pushing to cut Social Security benefits by using a more conservative measure of inflation to calculate annual cost-of-living increases.
The CEO pay loophole being used by Fix the Debt companies is extremely popular in corporate America. According to a report by Citizens for Tax Justice, Fortune 500 companies skipped out on $11.2 billion in taxes in 2011 alone thanks to this loophole.
"The stock option loophole is a major reason why corporations are paying record-low federal income tax rates," said Matthew Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. "The worst of it is that there is no 'cost' to a corporation that uses stock options to pay its executives, so there's no justification for allowing them to deduct it as an expense. It's not an expense."
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) has introduced legislation that would eliminate the loophole, but the plan is rarely included in deficit reduction talks on Capitol Hill.
The highest-paid executive in the Fix the Debt coalition is UnitedHealth Group CEO Stephen Hemsley, who received $198.9 million from 2009 to 2011, which would have qualified his company for $67.7 million in tax breaks. UnitedHealth declined to comment for this article.
Some of the companies eligible for the biggest tax breaks from CEO pay are run by politically influential executives.
According to the IPS-CAF report, Honeywell could have lowered its tax burden by as much as $21.5 million based on CEO David Cote's $70.1 million in pay from 2009-2011 -- the fifth-highest break among the firms analyzed. Cote serves on Fix the Debt's steering committee, and is also close with President Barack Obama, who named him to the Simpson-Bowles Commission, where he served as the second-ranking Republican. (Alan Simpson and Democrat Erskine Bowles also co-chair Fix the Debt.)
Honeywell is very aggressive about minimizng its tax payments, paying nothing at all in federal income taxes between 2008 and 2010, and receiving $34 million in tax rebates from the federal government during that period.
"Mr. Cote's compensation is aligned with the company's strong growth and reflects our variable, at-risk and long-term compensation plan that’s based on sustainable, profitable growth and stock price appreciation," said Honeywell spokesman Rob Ferris. "Honeywell is in compliance with U.S. tax law for treatment of corporate tax deductions for CEO pay."
President Obama named former Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg to his Export Council in 2010. From 2009 and 2011, Verizon qualified for $29.9 million in tax breaks from Seidenberg's $94.2 million in pay, third-highest among the Fix the Debt CEOs. Seidenberg stepped down from Verizon in 2011 but remains a member of Fix the Debt. Verizon declined to comment for this article.
Verizon disputed IPS' methodology and told it only had $32.9 million in deductible CEO pay for Seidenberg during those years, which would have reduced the firm's tax bill by $11.5 million. Verizon said its deductions were the sum of $3 million in salary, $10.4 million in short-term incentive pay and $19.5 million in long-term incentive payments recognized during the years. Verizon did not provide documentation to verify the claims.
"We strongly dispute the IPS findings which are simply inaccurate with respect to Verizon," company spokesman Robert Varettoni told . "We fully comply with tax law, which makes performance-based compensation deductible provided we obtain the requisite shareholder approval."
The IPS-CAF report based its Verizon calculations on a 2012 SEC filing which stated that Seidenberg exercised $20 million in stock options from 2009 - 2011 in 2012 which were tax deductible. Seidenberg cashed in another $30 million in stock options from the period in 2011, and $25 million in 2010. In addition, Seidenberg received $10,434 in non-equity performance compensation, including $3.5 million in 2011, $3.0 million in 2010 and $3.9 million in 2009.
Although the scope of the federal budget deficit has been a major political issue over the past four years, it has faded in recent months as Congress has considered gun legislation and immigration reform.
The deficit itself is also shrinking rapidly. With no policy changes, Goldman Sachs economists expect it to fall from $775 billion in 2013 to $475 billion by the end of 2015 due to economic growth.

NEWS,01.05.2013

Angry workers unite on May Day

Workers around the world united in anger during May Day rallies on Wednesday - from fury in Europe over austerity measures that have cut wages, reduced benefits and eliminated many jobs altogether, to rage in Asia over relentlessly low pay, the rising cost of living and hideous working conditions that have left hundreds dead in recent months.

In protests, strikes and other demonstrations held in cities across the planet, activists lashed out at political and business leaders they allege have ignored workers' voices or enriched themselves at the expense of labourers. In some places, the demonstrations turned violent, with activists clashing with police.
Many nations have been struggling with economic downturns for several years now, and workplace disasters in developing countries are nothing new, but the intensity of some of Wednesday's gatherings suggested workers' frustrations have grown especially acute, with many demanding immediate action to address their concerns.
The anger was painfully evident in Bangladesh, where the collapse last week of an illegally built eight-story facility housing multiple garment factories killed more than 400 in a Dhaka suburb. The building collapse followed a garment factory fire in November that killed 112 people in the country, and it has increased the pressure on the global garment industry to improve working conditions.
A loud procession of thousands of workers wound through central Dhaka on Wednesday. Many waved the national flag and demanded the death penalty for the now-detained owner of the doomed building.
From a loudspeaker on the back of a truck, a participant spoke for the throngs gathered: "My brother has died. My sister has died. Their blood will not be valueless."
The Bangladesh tragedy drew a denunciation from Pope Francis during a private Mass at the Vatican. He blasted what he called the "slave" wages of those who died, many of whom were being buried Wednesday as other bodies were still being pulled from the rubble. Francis criticized the focus on "balance books" and personal profit that he said are tied to the failure to pay workers fair wages.
In Greece and Spain, increasing numbers of people are losing their jobs as governments grappling with a debt crisis have been cutting spending, raising taxes and pursuing other stinging austerity measures. Both countries have unemployment rates hovering just above 27 percent.
Unions in Greece held a May Day strike that brought ferry and train services to a halt, and organized peaceful protest marches through central Athens. The country, which nearly went bankrupt in 2010, is now in its sixth year of a deep recession and is dependent on international bailout loans.
Turkey
While the austerity drive has succeeded in reducing high budget deficits, it has been at a huge cost: under the terms of its latest loan disbursement, Athens has agreed to sack about 15,000 civil servants through 2014.
"We are here to send a message to... those in power in Europe, that we will continue our struggle against unfair, open-ended policies that are destroying millions of jobs on a national and European level," said Kostas Tsikrikas, leader of Greek public sector labor union ADEDY.
More than 100 000 Spaniards infuriated by austerity measures and economic recession took to the streets of some 80 cities in trade union-organized rallies Wednesday, with the largest protests in Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao.
Under banners reading "Fight for your rights," union leaders Ignacio Fernandez Toxo of Workers Commissions and Candido Mendez of the General Workers Union called on the government to reverse its austerity drive and urged politicians to agree an all-party economic plan aimed at creating jobs.
Francisco Moreno, an unemployed bookkeeper, scoffed at Spanish leaders' calls on the public to be patient. "You can only be patient if you have savings, money in the bank," the 47-year-old said. "You can't be patient if you have no income and kids to feed."
May Day events in Turkey turned violent when some demonstrators, angered at a government ban on a symbolic rally point, hurled stones, gasoline bombs and fireworks at riot police. Security forces used water cannon and tear gas to prevent crowds from accessing Taksim Square, and Istanbul Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu said 22 police officers and at least three passersby were injured. More than 72 demonstrators were arrested.
The square is the city's main hub and is undergoing a major facelift. Authorities banned celebrations at Taksim this year, citing construction safety risks, and partially suspended public transport services to prevent large gatherings there. But trade unions had vowed to mark May Day in Taksim, which has symbolic importance because dozens of protesters were killed there in 1977 when unidentified gunmen opened fire on May Day celebrators.
"Taksim is our sacred venue. Open it up to the workers!" demanded Kani Beko, leader of a major labour union confederation.
Boos and whistles from protesters forced Danish Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt to halt her May Day speech to thousands at the gathering in Aarhus, some 200km northwest of Copenhagen. Some believe that she has been leaning too far to the right to uphold the goals of her leftist Social Democratic Party. 
Indonesia
As she was walking to her car, a man squirted her with a water pistol. Police spokesperson Carsten Dahl said police had detained the 23-year-old man, but the premier was not injured.
Swedish police said seven people were arrested and five were injured as counter-demonstrators tried to interrupt a May Day parade by right-wing extremists in the southern city of Jonkoping. Police spokesperson Goran Gunnarsson said 60 others were briefly detained as officers tried to keep the two sides apart.
In Indonesia, the world's fourth-most populous country, tens of thousands of workers rallied for higher pay and other demands. Some also carried banners reading: "Sentence corruptors to death and seize their properties" to protest a proposal for the government to slash fuel subsidies that have kept the country's pump prices among the cheapest in the region.
In the Philippines, an estimated 8 000 workers marched in Manila to also demand better pay and regular jobs instead of contractual work. Some rallied outside the US Embassy, torching a wooden painting stamped with the words "low wages" and "union busting" that depicted Philippine President Benigno Aquino III as a lackey of President Barack Obama.
More than 10 000 Taiwanese protested a government plan to cut pension payouts to solve worsening fiscal problems, saying it reflects a government policy to bolster economic growth at the expense of workers' benefits. Analysts say poor income levels have forced many young Taiwanese to share housing with their parents and delay marriages.
And in Cambodia, more than 5 000 garment workers marched in Phnom Penh, demanding better working conditions and a salary increase from $80 to $150 a month. About a half million people work in the country's $4.6bn garment industry, which makes brand name clothes for many US and European retailers.
In Mexico, public school teachers who have blocked highways and battled police in recent months marched peacefully on Wednesday in Mexico City and the southern city of Chilpancingo, hoping to block an education reform law that introduces teacher evaluations and diminishes the power of unions in hiring decisions.
"Not here, not there, the reform shall not pass anywhere!" the marchers chanted.
In his 1 May speech, President Enrique Pena Nieto promised new effort to produce more salaried jobs, noting that two-thirds of Mexicans have no benefits and low wages.
In Havana, tens of thousands of Cubans joined the communist nation's traditional May Day march in the Plaza of the Revolution. This year's edition was dedicated to Cuba's ally, the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Cuban President Raul Castro attended the event, but did not speak.

 

Anti-austerity protests sweep Europe

Trains and ferries were cancelled and hospital staff walked off the job in Greece on Wednesday and thousands were due to demonstrate across Spain as May Day triggered protests against harsh government spending cuts.
Separately, Turkish riot police fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse crowds gathering in central Istanbul for a rally on what has become a traditional labour holiday.
In Spain, where the unemployment rate stands at a record 27%, the two largest trade unions, CCOO and UGT, called on workers and the unemployed to join over 80 demonstrations across the country.
In a column in financial newspaper El Economista, CCOO Secretary General Igancio Fernandez Toxo criticised the government's "huge irresponsibility" in allowing unemployment to rise to such levels.
Candido Mendez, head of UGT, said having more than 6 million people unemployed meant there had "never been a May 1 with more reason to take to the streets".
In Athens, about 1 000 policemen were deployed to handle any violence during rallies and strikes called by public and private sector unions.
It is the latest in a long line of strikes and protests in the debt-laden country ravaged by its sixth year of recession and popular fury over wage and spending cuts.
"Our message today is very clear: Enough with these policies which hurt people and make the poor poorer," Ilias Iliopoulos, general secretary of public sector union ADEDY, told Reuters.
"The government must take back the austerity measures, people can't take it anymore."
Participation, however, was expected to be well below the levels of major protests last year when as many as 100 000 Greeks marched to the central Syntagma square chanting slogans.
Unions themselves expected turnout to be low in Greece with the traditional May 1 holiday falling just a few days before Greek Orthodox Easter, which meant public schools were shut and many workers had already left for vacation.
Public transport in Athens was disrupted with buses and subways halted, while ships and ferries stayed docked at ports after seamen also walked off the job. Bank and hospital workers also joined the one-day strike.
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has sought to maintain a hard line against striking workers in a bid to show European Union and International Monetary Fund lenders - as well as the public - that he is determined to push through unpopular reforms.      
Turkey, Russia
In Istanbul, thousands of police were stationed across the city centre to block access to the main Taksim square as crowds of protesters converged in different parts of the city early in the morning attempting to storm police barricades.
The incidents followed the pattern of recent years, when May Day demonstrations in Turkey's largest city have often been marked by clashes between police and protesters.
Authorities often use force to prevent the rally happening in the centre of the city, having this year already denied large trade unions permission to march on Taksim, saying major construction work there would make it too dangerous.
Two officers were wounded by stones and metal objects thrown at police lines, state-run TRT television said, citing the Istanbul governor's office.
In Russia, around 1.5 million Russians were expected to participate in May 1 parades - a fraction of the millions that used to march in the Soviet times. 

Chinese manufacturing falls in April

China's monthly index of manufacturing activity fell in April, a report said Wednesday.
The Purchasing Managers' Index for the manufacturing sector fell to 50.6%, down from 50.9% in March, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said.
The 50% mark denotes the divide between expansion and contraction.
The index has remained above 50% since October, which the government said earlier was a sign that it had arrested a slowdown in growth in the world's second-largest economy.
The slight drop in April indicated slower growth in manufacturing and the need for a stronger momentum in the country's economic growth, the federation said.
Annual economic growth fell to 7.8% last year, the slowest since 1999, down from 9.3% in 2011. China has been dealing with slowing demand for its exports amid the eurozone debt crisis and uncertainty over the US economic recovery, as well as growing production costs including rising wages.

Greeks, police clash in May Day protests

Trains and ferries were cancelled and hospital staff walked off the job in Greece on Wednesday as workers marked May Day with a strike against harsh austerity required by the country's foreign lenders.
Elsewhere, Turkish riot police fired water cannon and tear gas to disperse crowds gathering in central Istanbul for a rally on what has become a traditional labour holiday.
Greece's 24-hour walkout was called by its two major public and private sector unions. It is the latest in a long line of strikes and protests in the debt-laden country ravaged by its sixth year of recession and popular fury over wage and spending cuts.
"Our message today is very clear: Enough with these policies which hurt people and make the poor poorer," Ilias Iliopoulos, general secretary of public sector union ADEDY, told Reuters.
"The government must take back the austerity measures, people can't take it anymore."
About 1 000 policemen were deployed in central Athens to handle any violence during the rallies, though participation is expected to be well below the levels of major protests last year when as many as 100 000 Greeks marched to the central Syntagma square chanting slogans.
Demonstrators began to slowly gather in central squares in Athens to rally before marching to parliament, the site of frequent clashes between police and protesters in recent years.
Unions expected turnout to be low with the traditional May 1 holiday falling just a few days before Greek Orthodox Easter, which meant public schools were shut and many workers had already left for vacation.
Public transport in Athens was disrupted with buses and subways halted, while ships and ferries stayed docked at ports after seamen also walked off the job. Bank and hospital workers also joined the one-day strike.
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has sought to maintain a hard line against striking workers in a bid to show European Union and International Monetary Fund lenders - as well as the public that he is determined to push through unpopular reforms.
The lenders' decision to disburse long-delayed aid last year has eased fears that Greece could go bankrupt and be forced to leave the eurozone, but the country still faces deep challenges from a volatile social climate and domestic opposition to a reform programme that includes firing civil servants.
In Istanbul, thousands of police were stationed across the city centre to block access to the main Taksim square as crowds of protesters converged in different parts of the city early in the morning attempting to storm police barricades.

UK manufacturing contracts slightly

British manufacturing contracted by the narrowest of margins in April, and much less than expected, the first major set of data for the second quarter of the year showed on Wednesday.
The Markit/CIPS Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 49.8 in April from an upwardly revised 48.6 in March, putting the sector within a whisker of the 50 line that separates growth from contraction.
Economists had expected a much weaker reading of 48.5.
Manufacturing output fell 0.3% in the first quarter while the economy grew 0.3%, the preliminary official estimate of Britain's gross domestic product in the January-March period showed.
"It is welcome to see the sector showing signs of stabilising in April... The sector should at least be less of a drag on broader GDP growth in the second quarter," said Rob Dobson, senior economist at Markit and author of the survey.
He added that a strengthening in manufacturing would also boost other parts of the economy, such as the services.
Manufacturing accounts for 10.5% of UK economy, according to the latest GDP release.
April's improvement in factory activity was helped by the first expansion in new orders since January, with the related sub-index climbing to 50.6 from March's 49.3.
New export orders rose for the first time in more than a year and at the fastest pace since July 2011 on the back of increased sales to North America, the Middle East, Latin America and Australia. But demand from the eurozone remained sluggish.
There was marginal growth in output led by the production of consumer items and investment goods such as factory equipment.
There was also good news on inflation, with manufacturers' selling prices rising at the slowest pace since November while lower commodity and energy prices contributed to the first dip in their input costs since August.
"This provides headroom for the Bank of England's MPC (Monetary Policy Committee) to extend its accommodative policy stance if GDP growth fails to gain traction in the coming months," Dobson said.
If the central bank were to announce more asset purchases this year, it would most likely do so either next week when it updates its quarterly economic forecasts or after its new governor Mark Carney takes over in July.
On a gloomier note, factories shed jobs for the third straight month in April.

Venezuela MPs come to blows

Political tensions over Venezuela's disputed presidential election boiled over on Tuesday in the National Assembly as government and opposition lawmakers said they physically clashed.
"I'm not the only one who has been beaten. They have struck several lawmakers. [Assembly speaker] Diosdado Cabello has to be held to account personally," said opposition lawmaker Julio Borges.
He said he was denied the right to speak in the assembly by the body, which is controlled by a majority loyal to socialist President Nicolas Maduro, because opposition lawmakers have not recognized Maduro's reelection.
So the ruling party majority voted to deny opposition lawmakers their right to speak in the forum to which they were elected, Borges said.
A combative Cabello told the opposition legislators - many of whom shouted in protest and frantically blew whistles - that "as long as [national] authorities are not recognized and the Republic's institutions are not recognized... the ladies and gentlemen of the opposition can go talk to [TV network] Globovision, to [newspaper] El Nacional.
"But they won't be doing it here" in the assembly, Cabello said.
Authorities on Monday began a partial audit of the disputed election won by Maduro, the late Hugo Chavez's handpicked successor, as the opposition rejected the move as insufficient.
Opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who says he was the real winner of the 14 April presidential vote, has accused election officials of rejecting his appeal for a full recount on the orders of the ruling Socialist Party.
The National Electoral Board has ruled that Maduro won by 1.49% of the vote, amending an earlier tally that had Maduro up by 1.8%.
Spain impertinent
The Board has insisted it is legally impossible to carry out a full recount, and that no audit can reverse Maduro's win.
The 40-year-old Capriles has said he will not accept anything short of a full recount.
Capriles - a businessman, lawyer and Miranda state governor - alleges that some voters cast multiple ballots or even voted on behalf of the dead.
Both the government and the opposition have urged their supporters to turn out for massive street demonstrations planned for 1 May.
Former colonial power Spain has offered to mediate between government and the opposition. But on Tuesday Maduro shot down the offer with an insult, calling the Spanish Foreign Minister "impertinent".
"Mr Foreign Minister, get your snout out of Venezuela.... Just get out of here, you impertinent Spanish foreign minister," he said. "Respect Venezuela."