Sydney - The Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday cut interest rates by 1 per cent to 4.25 per cent in hopes of lifting consumer confidence and helping the economy skirt a recession.

It was the bank's fourth monthly cut in the rate it charges banks for borrowing and brings it to a six-year low.

The further easing of monetary policy came on the heels of figures showing inflation falling sharply towards the central bank's upper-range target of 3 per cent.

Washington - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Monday said further cuts in US interest rates were "certainly feasible" but warned that other measures would have to take centre-stage as the US works its way out of a massive financial crisis.

The Fed's benchmark federal funds rate has already been slashed to 1 per cent in an effort to boost lending, which has dried up as banks suffered unprecedented losses from the collapse of the US mortgage market over the past year.

Washington  - The United States has been in a recession since December 2007, the country's official arbiter of economic growth said Monday, confirming the long-held views of many economists as the country grapples with a debilitating financial crisis.

The announcement by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a private grouping of the country's top economists, marks the first recession in the United States since 2001, ending more than six years of expansion.

The NBER said it had rated the world's largest economy in recession after a private conference call between its seven-member committee held on Friday.

Wellington  - New Zealand consumers, who have kept their wallets closed as the economy moved into recession for the first time in nearly 10 years, will fire a gradual recovery when they start spending again next year, an influential think tank predicted on Tuesday.

The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) forecast the recession to continue through the current fiscal year ending in March with economic activity contracting to its lowest point of 0.1 per cent

It would recover slowly during next year, with private consumption stimulated by lower petrol prices, falling interest rates and tax cuts from October 2008 and anticipated tax cuts in April 2009, NZIER said in its scheduled quarterly predictions.

Reykjavik  - What began Monday as a celebration of Iceland's 90th birthday since its independence from Denmark in 1918 turned into protests by several hundred people who stormed to the central bank in anger over the government's handling of the financial crisis.

The protests were a continuation of demonstrations over the weekend that drew several thousand people despite freezing conditions.

Monday's protestors pushed into the Central Bank foyer, loudly demanding the resignation of Central Bank chief David Oddsson. Over the weekend, angry Icelanders demanded that Prime Minister Geir Haarde step down. Similar calls for the two men to step down have punctuated recent weeks.

Wellington  - New Zealand consumers, who have kept their wallets closed as the economy moved into recession for the first time in nearly 10 years, will fire a gradual to ecovery when they start spending again next year, an influential think tank predicted on Tuesday.

The New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER) forecast the recession to continue through the current fiscal year ending in March with economic activity contracting to its lowest point of 0.1 per cent

It would recover slowly during next year, with private consumption stimulated by lower petrol prices, falling interest rates and tax cuts, and then accelerate from 2010, NZIER said in its scheduled quarterly predictions.