The Employers side of the NJC met on 21 October and has agreed to Unison’s request for the 2008-9 offer to be paid “on account” pending the outcome of the binding arbitration process via ACAS.  This means that all local government employees on NJC pay will receive the new rate of...

This just in: The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to keep its target for the federal funds rate at 2 percent. Strains in financial markets have increased significantly and labor markets have weakened further. Economic growth appears to have slowed recently, partly reflecting a softening of household spending. Tight credit conditions, the ongoing housing contraction, and some slowing in...

And why not? If the infidels are willing to let someone with Imam Rauf's background build a mosque at Ground Zero, why not ask them to pay jirzya for it? Earlier this month, Sharif El-Gamal, the waiter-turned-developer for the Ground Zero Mosque applied for around $5 million in federal grant money set aside for the redevelopment of lower Manhattan after the 9/11 attacks. (note: the article li...

Check out multinational investors' major vote of confidence in ultra-imperialism today: John Willman, "Markets Cheer Bank Bail-outs" (Financial Times, 13 October 2008); Ralph Atkins, "European Banks Offer Unlimited Dollar Funding" (Financial Times, 13 October 2008); "Full Text: US Treasury Tarp Plans" (Financial Times, 13 October 2008); Louise Story and Andrew Ross Sorkin, "Morgan Agrees to R...

Nobody loves a short seller, which is why the Financial Services Authority's decision to lift the ban on short selling financial stocks will be greeted with dismay by many politicians. But it is the right decision and should be seen as a sign of progress. The regulator deems the banking and financial sector to be sufficiently strong now to withstand the normal argy-bargy of market activity. S...

This is an official American government website created by the General Services Administration (GSA) in consultation with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to aid the transition of the American presidency from George W Bush to new president Barack Obama in 2008/9. It aims to offer an introduction to the structure and function of all US government federal agencies and departme...

In 2008 the United Nations tracked 180 reported incidents of piracy off Somalia. This breaks down to 65 suspicious approaches, 69 attempted hijackings, and 46 successful hijackings, a success rate of 40%. Through April 15th, 2009 pirates have attacked around 80 ships and have hijacked 19 of them, with a success rate of 20%. There are currently 17 ships with over 300 mariners being held hostage off...

Protests against the offer for auction of more than 160,000 acres of federal land for oil and gas development mount ahead of the handover to the president-elect

The US Federal Reserve last night led the way in a series of interest rate cuts aimed at heading off a deep and prolonged global recession when it reduced borrowing costs to 1%. In a move that is expected to be followed by the Bank of Japan tomorrow, and the European Central Bank and the Bank of England next week, America's central bank said the half-point cut in its overnight lending rate wa...

This blog was created by the Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy (LISPOP) to provide coverage of the 2008 Canadian federal elections. It offers news, comment and analysis on the elections. There is especially good analysis of the main public opinion polls throughout the campaigns. These include seat projections, electoral maps and graphs of the political landscape.