Singapore - Singapore container shipper and logistics group Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) posted a net loss of 149 million US dollars for the fourth quarter of 2008 due to a rapid drop in cargo volume following the global economic downturn, the company said on Tuesday.

In the same period from October to December 2007 NOL reached a net profit of 196 million US dollars.

"The severity of the collapse in global trade over recent months is without precedent. Since late September 2008, we have seen a consistent, week-by-week drop in shipment levels across nearly all trade routes," NOL Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ron Widdows said in a statement.

Frankfurt  - Accenting the steep fall in the world economy, orders taken by the German heavy machinery industry sagged 40 per cent in year-on-year terms in December, the VDMA trade association said Tuesday in Frankfurt.

In real terms, orders from German customers fell 39 per cent while non-German orders fell by 41 per cent compared to December 2007. In November, the year-on-year decline had been 30 per cent.

The VDMA represents engineering companies that install plant and heavy machines and compiles the data from members' reports.

London - A close ally of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that the current global recession is "the most serious for over 100 years," according to media reports

The comment by Ed Balls, the childrens' minister and former close adviser to Brown, that the recession was "more extreme and more serious than that of the 1930s," was reported by the Yorkshire Post newspaper.

Panama City  - The Panama Canal Authority forecast a drop in cargo tonnage going through the waterway in the 2008-09 fiscal year as cargo transit was dragged down by the global recession.

In an analysis presented on Monday, the authority said this year's transit volume would be down 5 per cent to 294.1 million tons, 19.9 million tons less than in the previous fiscal year, which ended on September 20.

Washington  - The United States' economic recovery package overcame a decisive hurdle Monday in the Senate, which voted to close debate on an 827-billion-dollar compromise bill that would be the largest stimulus in US history.

The Senate voted 61-36 to invoke cloture on the legislation, setting the stage for a final vote in the chamber on Tuesday. Only three Republican members supported the compromise bill.

Paris - The French government is set to announce a loan of 6 billion euros (7.75 billion dollars) to aid France's two large auto makers, Renault and PSA Peigeort Citroen, several dailies reported on Monday.

In exchange for the loans of 3 billion euros to each company, at interest rates significantly below market levels, Renault and Peugeot have committed themselves not to shut any French factory or outsource production abroad for the period of the loan, which is five years.