Factories and refineries in the 16 countries using the euro ratcheted down their output in March, the most on record in the face of tanking demand, according to official EU data yesterday.
The Eurostat data agency said eurozone industrial production eurozone fell two per cent in February over one month, bringing the drop over 12 months to a record 20.2 per cent, the sharpest annual contraction on record.
Economists had forecast that production had slumped 1.2 per cent in March over one month and 18.2 per cent over one year.
In February, production had fallen 2.5 per cent over one month and 19.1 per cent over 12 months.
The drop in European industrial production has been gaining pace recently as factories worldwide have been slashing output and cutting jobs in a struggle to cope with a global slump in demand.
In the broader 27-nation European Union, industrial production also suffered steep declines, falling 1.9 per cent in March over one month and 18.8 per cent over one year.
EU fines Intel €1 billion
EU antitrust regulators said yesterday they had fined Intel a record €1.06 billion for using its grip on the microchip market to thwart rivals illegally.
The European Commission accused Intel of using rebates to squeeze rivals out of the market for computer processing units - the brains inside personal computers.
The fine topped the previous record €899 million which Microsoft was ordered to pay last year for failing to cooperate with the European Commission in its antitrust battles with the US software giant.
Germany agrees 'bad bank' scheme
Germany's Cabinet agreed a "bad bank" scheme yesterday to clean up toxic assets from banks' balance sheets, a key plank of Berlin's bid to turn around Europe's biggest economy, a spokesman said.
The plan, which has become somewhat of a political hot potato five months before a national election, would allow banks to park their toxic assets in specially-created institutions for up to 20 years.
Berlin hopes that removing these bad holdings from banks' balance sheets will encourage them to begin lending to each other and to businesses and consumers, kick-starting an economy expected to shrink six per cent this year.
After dumping these toxic assets - mainly securities which have become virtually worthless or that cannot be sold because of frozen markets - banks receive government-backed bonds worth 90 per cent of the value of the original asset.
Twenty years later, the value of these assets will be assessed to determine the final cost to the taxpayer although the finance ministry has stressed that bank shareholders will have to pick up at least part of the tab.
Kuwait cuts discount rate
The Central Bank of Kuwait yesterday cut its discount rate by 50 basis points to three per cent, its second reduction in a month, the official KUNA news agency reported.
The central bank said the reduction - the fifth since October - will be effective as of today.
Central bank governor Sheikh Salem Abdulaziz al-Sabah said the latest cut came to "help boost growth in non-oil sectors of the domestic economy by reducing the cost of lending after indications that inflationary pressures have declined."
He added the measure "is another step in central bank efforts to strengthen confidence in the national economy by stimulating demand and eventually boosting non-oil growth."
The decision was also taken after an increase in liquidity levels at local banks, the governor said. Inflation in Opec's fourth largest producer hit a record high 10.6 per cent annual average last year, but it showed a gradual decline in the last four months of the year, ending December at nine per cent.
Last month, the government of the oil-rich Gulf state approved a multi-billion-dollar stimulus decree to encourage banks to offer new loans and help troubled investment firms.
A cut in interest rates makes borrowing cheaper and will likely encourage troubled investment companies to seek fresh loans to refinance their debt.
'Overwork' kills Bangladesh girl
A Bangladeshi teenager who died in a garment factory that supplies cheap jeans for export to Europe was "overworked to death," a rights group said.
Fatema Akter, an 18-year-old garment worker in the port city of Chittagong, died during her shift in December last year, according to the US-based National Labor Committee (NCL).
"Forced to work 13 to 15 hours a day, seven days a week, Fatema was sick and exhausted, with pains in her chest and arms," the report said, adding that her job was to clean 90 to 100 pairs of finished jeans per hour.
"Rather than grant her a sick day (her supervisor) slapped her face very hard and ordered her to continue working."
The committee said an investigation showed that 14-hour shifts with few breaks were common at the factory, overtime was compulsory and workers were regularly beaten by their superiors.
The report, released earlier this week, said 80 per cent of garments produced at the factory were supplied to German-based retail giant Metro Group. NCL has called on Metro Group, which sells bargain jeans across Europe, to guarantee the legal rights of the workers.
A statement issued by Metro Group said the company was "deeply saddened" by the death and had immediately terminated its contract with the Bangladeshi supplier that used the factory.