Sao Paulo - The World Social Forum is set to meet starting Tuesday in the northeastern Brazilian city of Belem, as the gathering gets renewed strength and meaning from the ongoing global financial and economic crisis.

This is the ninth edition of the forum, a self-declared "alternative" to the simultaneous World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Friday saw a meeting between Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer and the company's executives, where Ballmer expressed that the U. S. economy likely will not bottom out until about a year from now, and it will return to a slow growth-track only after a few years

Furthermore, the chief executive of the world's largest software maker made an effort to rally troops at the company-wide meeting but stood by plans to lay off up to 5,000 employees, or about 5 percent of the workforce. The company which announced its biggest-ever job cuts a day earlier thinks the decision taken by it is fine.

Washington  - A key gauge of the US economy unexpectedly rose

London, Jan 25 : An out-of-job Woolworths shop girl was so much in debt that she had to get into skin trade to pay her bills.

With employers in Britain sacking people because of the recession, Zara claims she had no other choice but going on the game.

"I'm in so much debt. There are no jobs around and it is the only way I could see of coping. But I never thought I'd end up doing this . . . " News of the World quoted her as saying.

And now, the pretty 22-year-old sells her services over the internet on an escort website.

London, Jan 24 : Britain is heading for economic depression for the first time since the 1930s, economists have warned.

Families must brace themselves for a slump of far greater severity and longevity than the recessions of the 1980s and 1990s, The Telegraph quoted economists, as saying.

They said the current crisis will be of a scale to rival the biggest peace-time crisis in modern history - the Great Depression.