The US Treasury has warned of catastrophic effects if a political stalemate over raising the government’s debt limit forces a US default on its obligations. The federal government is expected to exhaust its cash reserves by October 17 and if US lawmakers do not reach an agreement to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, the government will not be able to pay its bills and will default on its legal... 

Official figures show that the unemployment rate in Spain has increased again with nearly five million people out of work in the recession-hit country. Figures released by Spain’s Labor Ministry on Wednesday indicated that the number of people registered as out of work rose by 25,572 people in September. The ministry added that the total number of unemployed people in Spain remained at around 4.7... 

Financial markets in Asia and Europe have been rocked over concerns that the United States’ government might be heading for a partial shutdown. Washington should agree to a new spending bill before the end of the financial year at midnight on Monday amid political divisions that have created a stalemate. If the American lawmakers fail to agree on the budget deal, essential federal services could... 

The White House budget director has ordered federal agencies to begin closing down after the Senate and the House of Representatives failed to reach an agreement on a budget plan to avert a government shutdown. “Agencies should now execute plans for an orderly shutdown due to the absence of appropriations,” Sylvia Mathews Burwell, director Of the White House Office of Management and Budget... 

In an address from the White House rose garden Tuesday afternoon, President Barack Obama blamed Republican lawmakers for triggering the first government shutdown in nearly two decades. Pres. Obama spoke on Tuesday roughly 12 hours after a longstanding budget stalemate on Capitol Hill caused a midnight shutdown impacting a number of government agencies and initiatives across the board. “At midnight... 

As a government shutdown looms over the federal budget in the United States, stocks in the country fall sharply and global investors cut allocation to US equities and bonds. All 10 main industries of Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped on Monday. Microsoft Corp. led the declines with a 1.1 percent fall among the largest companies while shares in finance, telephone and energy tumbled the most. Dow... 

A Siemens employee works on a rotor of a gas turbine in a plant in Berlin The German powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering, Siemens AG, is planning to axe 15,000 jobs over the next year as the economic crisis in Europe continues to worsen. “The ongoing and planned workforce adjustments in the context of Siemens 2014 are about 15,000 positions worldwide, of which about 5,000 are in... 

With the US debt ballooning to a new record of $16.7tln and the deadline to fix the ‘debt ceiling’ expiring on October 1, a default threat looms over the world’s largest economy. Experts agree the government will broaden its borrowing limit. The latest warning to Congress comes from the International Monetary Fund, who urged the US Congress to reach an agreement to raise its debt ceiling and... 

As EU countries battle the financial crisis with austerity, average citizens get hurt while unemployment rises and social programs disappear. Up to 146 million Europeans are at risk of falling into poverty by 2025, the head of Oxfam’s EU office told RT. If the damage being inflicted by the European Union’s austerity measures is not reversed, the number of people trapped in poverty will increase... 

Just 10 days until a possible US government shutdown, the House of Representatives passed a bill that keeps the government open but defunds the 2010 affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. The House vote was 230-189. The Republican-drafted continuing resolution, or CR, keeps the government open until December 15. The CR would also cut spending on food stamps for the poor by $40 billion over 10 years. Republicans... 

The main question ahead of the key Fed meeting on Tuesday is whether the world’s largest economy can survive on less government monetary stimulus. Data shows the economy is still luke-warm but politics will encourage the Fed to slow quantitative easing. Chair Ben Bernanke gave strong hints in August that the Fed would decide to begin tapering its stimulus in September. If he reneges it could destabilize... 

Tens of thousands of Polish demonstrators and trade unionists have marched through Warsaw Saturday after four days of protests against Prime Minster Donald Tusk’s center-right government. The Solidarity trade union movement has been planning to send 100,000 of its members on the march and they are expected to be joined by two other unions with hundreds of busses already converging on Warsaw. First... 

Spain public debt has climbed to record 92.2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) for the second quarter of this year amid deteriorating financial woes. The Bank of Spain announced on Friday that the Spanish debt for the period between April and June surpassed the government’s year-end target of 91.4 percent of GDP, reaching the unprecedented 92.2-percent level. This is while... 

Official data shows Greece’s unemployment rate rose to a new record high in July as the country continues to grapple with a recession-hit economy following the implementation of tough austerity measures. The Greek Statistical Authority said on Thursday that the jobless rate rose to 27.9 percent in July from 27.6 percent in June, marking a sharp rise compared to last year when the jobless rate stood... 

Greeks protest against the government’s austerity measures and the layoff of public workers during a rally in the city of Thessaloniki on September 7, 2013. Greeks have taken to the streets in yet another mass anti-austerity demonstration despite the government’s talk of improvement in the recession-hit economy. Thousands of people, including union workers, rallied in the country’s second largest...