Labour's Iain Gray in policy move over minimum wage

Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray has announced plans to boost public sector workers' pay to more than £7 an hour. Despite tough spending cuts on the horizon, he told his party's UK conference that the lowest paid workers must be protected. Mr Gray said he would also restrict high salaries in the public sector. All the Scottish parties are on an election footing in the run up to next May's Holyrood election. Mr Gray told delegates in Manchester of his manifesto commitment to establish a "Scottish living wage", which the private sector will also be encouraged to take up. The policy is similar to the one announced last year by the then leader of Glasgow City Council, Steven Purcell. The national minimum wage currently sits at £5.80 an hour for those above the age of 22.

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The above article was extracted from Skyline updates of Skyline College. Skyline College is amongst the top MBA and BBA institutes in Delhi, Gurgaon (NCR).

Japan 'ready' for more yen action

The governor of Japan's central bank has not ruled out further interventions in the currency markets in its fight to control the rising value of the yen. Speaking at a conference in Kobe, Masaaki Shirakawa said the Bank of Japan (BOJ) was "ready to implement appropriate action" if required. The BOJ intervened in the currency markets for the first time in six years earlier this month. Its decision to sell large amounts of yen helped drive down the currency. Previously the yen had reached a 15-year high against the dollar - a concern for Japan's exporters who are seeing their profits squeezed by the poor exchange rate. The comments came two days after the central bank was suspected of intervening in the markets for a second time, leading to a sharp fall of more than 1% in the value of the yen against the dollar.

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The above article was extracted from Skyline updates of Skyline College. Skyline College is amongst the top MBA and BBA institutes in Delhi, Gurgaon (NCR).

Gold price touches $1,300 record high

The price of gold has risen above $1,300 an ounce for the first time. The price of the precious metal reached $1,300.07 during trading at the London bullion market, before dipping back. The latest rise has been spurred by caution over the global economy, as well as weakness in the US dollar - the currency used to value gold - which fell 1% against the euro. The gold price has increased five-fold in the last 10 years, up from a low of $258 in 2000. One of the factors spurring investors is gold's traditional role as a so-called "safe-haven" investment at times of economic uncertainty. Another driver is more technical - gold is priced in dollars, and any fall in the dollar makes it cheaper to buyers using other currencies. The World Gold Council's last report on the gold market predicted that continuing strong demand from jewellery buyers in the two fast-developing markets of India and China would help to keep the price high.

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The above article was extracted from Skyline updates of Skyline College. Skyline College is amongst the top MBA and BBA institutes in Delhi, Gurgaon (NCR).

Air traffic growth slips to single digit in Aug

Domestic air traffic growth slipped to single-digit in August mainly due to lean season. Domestic carriers such as Air India, Jet Airways and IndiGo together flew 40.38 lakh passengers during this period, registering a growth of 9.8% over the corresponding month last year, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) data released on Thursday showed. The traffic grew 19% to 284.24 lakh in January-August period with most of the airlines reporting increased flight occupancy on the back of strong economy and market sentiment.

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The above article was extracted from Skyline updates of Skyline College. Skyline College is amongst the top MBA and BBA institutes in Delhi, Gurgaon (NCR).

India trade deficit seen at all-time high

With imports rising at a scorching over 33 per cent but exports losing steam in April-August, India seems to be heading for an all-time high trade gap of USD 135 billion this fiscal. India's trade deficit--difference between imports and exports--in April-August of 2010-11 is USD 56.6 billion. (This) comes to roughly a trade deficit of USD 11.2 billion per month and that comes to USD 135 billion (for the fiscal). Now that will be very very large, Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar told reporters here. The estimated trade gap in 2009-10 was USD 102 billion and for 2008-09 at USD 118 billion.

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The above article was extracted from Skyline updates of Skyline College. Skyline College is amongst the top MBA and BBA institutes in Delhi, Gurgaon (NCR).

New EU finance watchdogs ratified

The European Parliament has ratified a law creating new financial oversight institutions, designed to help prevent future banking crises. New watchdogs for the banking, financial markets, insurance and pensions sectors will be set up, in addition to a European board to oversee the health of Europe's economy. They will become active at the beginning of next year. European Union member states had already backed the plan. The new framework for financial supervision was drawn up by EU finance ministers and the European Parliament earlier this month.

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The above article was extracted from Skyline updates of Skyline College. Skyline College is amongst the top MBA and BBA institutes in Delhi, Gurgaon (NCR).

Federal Reserve hints may act on US economy

The US central bank has decided to not take further action to rejuvenate the country's economy for now - but hinted it may do more later if needed. The Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady and made no change to monetary policy after its one-day meeting. But it expressed greater concern than previously about the sluggish pace of economic growth and low inflation. The economy - with unemployment close to 10% - is set to dominate November's mid-term elections. The US recession ended in June 2009, but recovery has lost momentum this year with growth at an annualised rate of 1.6% in the second three months of 2010.

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The above article was extracted from Skyline updates of Skyline College. Skyline College is amongst the top MBA and BBA institutes in Delhi, Gurgaon (NCR).