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, a private grouping of the country's top economists, marks the first recession in the United States since
2001.

Washington  - The United States has been in an economic recession since December 2007, the country's official arbiter of economic growth said Monday.

The announcement by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private grouping of the country's top economists, marks the first recession in the United States since
2001.

The NBER said it had rated the world's largest economy in recession after a private conference call between its members held on Friday. A recession is typically rated as two straight quarters of contracting growth, but the NBER committee stressed that its measures are much broader.

Brussels  - New rules allowing passengers to bring more duty- free perfumes and wines into the European Union came into force Monday.

The new rules also allow EU member states to limit the number of duty-free cigarettes that can be brought back from outside the bloc to 40. So far, about half of the EU's 27 member states have said they will stick to the current limit of 200 cigarettes.

Travellers' overall allowances for the import of duty-free goods has been raised from 175 euros (220 dollars) to 430 euros for those arriving by air or sea and to 300 euros for those entering the EU by land.

Brussels  - Germany is already doing its share and will not spend more money to help lift the European Union out of recession, the country's finance minister, Peer Steinbrueck, said Monday.

"Germany is putting 31 billion euros (39.5 billion dollars) on the table. That is 1.25 per cent of our gross domestic product. I am not sure everyone has properly registered this," Steinbrueck said in Brussels.

Steinbrueck and his fellow eurozone ministers were holding a first discussion on the European Commission's economic recovery plan, which will have to be approved by heads of state and government at a summit due to take place on December 11-12.

Hong Kong  - Jobs are being lost at a rate of nearly 1,000 a week in Hong Kong as the global economic slump rocks the wealthy former British colony, a survey claimed Monday.

Nearly 6,000 jobs have been lost in the last six weeks, and another 4,600 job losses have already been announced for the weeks and months ahead, according to the study by the South China Morning Post.

The sector hardest hit by the slump is the financial sector, where 1,780 jobs have been lost already, the newspaper said in a study of job losses across the city of 6.9 million people.

More than 1,300 jobs have been lost in the property and construction sector, while 1,029 jobs have gone in the restaurant industry and 929 in retailing.

Washington  - Holiday retail sales in the US were up three per cent from last year, the smallest gain on Black Friday in three years, a research firm said Saturday.

The day after the Thanksgiving holiday typically marks the beginning of the most intense period of the holiday shopping season, and can account for a third of stores' annual profits. It is known as Black Friday because historically shops put their profits in the black thanks to the huge influx of customers.