News Headlines - 08 September 2011

▽Bank of England holds interest rates and quantitative easing - The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/sep/08/bank-of-england-interest-rates-qe
The Bank of England resisted pressure for a fresh dose of electronic money to stimulate the economy on Thursday as it voted to leave UK interest rates unchanged again.
Despite growing fears that Britain is heading for a double-dip recession, the nine-strong monetary policy committee chose not to increase its £200bn quantitative easing (QE) programme. The MPC also left interest rates at their current record low of 0.5%, where they have been since March 2009.

▽OECD Cuts Growth Forecasts for U.S., Japan - Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-08/oecd-cuts-growth-forecasts-for-u-s-japan.html
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development slashed its growth forecasts for the U.S. and Japan and said central banks around the world should be ready to ease monetary policy if economies weaken further.
The U.S. will grow 1.1 percent in the third quarter and 0.4 percent in the fourth, instead of the 2.9 percent and 3 percent predicted in May, the OECD said today in its interim economic assessment. Japan will expand 4.1 percent in the third quarter before stalling in the fourth, and the three biggest euro economies will grow 1.4 percent and then shrink 0.4 percent.

▽TUC 'prepared and ready' for strike action over pensions - The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/sep/08/tuc-prepared-strike-action-pensions
The TUC is "prepared and ready" to co-ordinate strike action if talks over public pension reforms fail, its leader said as the head of a civil servants' union announced plans for November walkouts that could involve millions of public sector workers.

▽Vladimir Putin agrees to Moscow meeting with David Cameron - The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/08/vladimir-putin-david-cameron-moscow
David Cameron is hoping to lift UK relations with Vladimir Putin from the deep freeze by holding talks with the mercurial Russian prime minister next week, the first contact between Britain and Putin since Tony Blair had a disastrous bilateral meeting with him on the margins of a G8 summit in 2007.

▽Mail on Sunday loses 150,000 sales - The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/sep/09/august-abcs-mail-sunday
The real winners post closure of NoW remain the tabloid's more obviously direct competitors – the Sunday Mirror, People and Richard Desmond's Daily Star Sunday – with most titles attempting to hold new readers with tactics including heavy advertising and price discounting.
The Sunday Mirror reported a 6.38% month-on-month increase to 1,900,460, a 66.69% year-on-year increase.