PARIS - Lafarge, a French leading firm of building materials, is planning to slash 460 posts worldwide including 90 jobs in France this year, the company said Thursday.

The move of the company aims to focus on more profitable activities and boost its services, said a statement posted on Lafarge's website.

According to the statement, the cut will affect staff working on research and development, marketing, engineering, human resources and communications "with a voluntary redundancy plan."

"The new Group organization will enable Lafarge to be more focused on the needs of its markets and its customers, and to accelerate the development of the Group through organic growth and innovation," the group said.

Lafarge employs 76,000 workers in 78 countries and regions across the world. In 2010, the group posted a turnover of 16.2 billion euros ($21.3 billion).

KIEV/BELGRADE - Record-low temperatures in parts of Eastern Europe pushed the death toll from Arctic conditions to at least 89 people on Wednesday, and have forced Russian gas provider Gazprom to warn over supplies to Europe.

Europe had enjoyed a relatively mild winter up until last weekend, but a Siberian system swinging in from the east brought that to an abrupt halt.

A woman out jogging wears warm winter clothes during a freezing cold afternoon in Zurich, February 1, 2012. The cold snap which has gripped Europe and killed 89 people in the east is set to lift European power and gas prices further as energy demand for heating surges while temperatures are expected to stay below freezing point. [Photo/Agencies]

A source at Russian gas export monopoly, which supplies a quarter of Europe's gas imports, said it was getting more requests from export markets than it could physically accommodate as demand from Russia spikes.  

The company however sought to reassure clients on Wednesday. "Despite increasing gas consumption in Russia due to heavy frosts, Gazprom continues implementing its contractual obligations to European clients," it said in e-mailed comments.  

In Ukraine, 43 people have died in the past five days, its emergency ministry said, as the country shivered through its coldest winter in six years. Overnight temperatures sank as low as minus 33 degrees Celsius (minus 27 Fahrenheit) and hundreds of heated tents have been put up to shelter the homeless.  

"They say the whole February will be cold, and the first half of March, so we have to get ready for this somehow," said Viktor, who is living on the streets of Kiev.

European weather alert network Meteoalarm warned of "extremely dangerous" conditions in several parts of eastern Europe, including Serbia, where a fourth person was found dead overnight in the southwestern mountain areas.

Security forces there, and in neighbouring Bosnia, have used helicopters to ferry supplies to areas cut off by deep snow and to evacuate the elderly. The forecast across the Balkans is for conditions to worsen through the week.

Meteoalarm said severe cold was likely to persist in many parts of continental Europe including Germany and especially in southeastern Europe.

WASHINGTON -- The US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted on Tuesday that the US federal government would run a budget deficit of around $1.1 trillion in the 2012 fiscal year (FY).

Measured as a share of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP), the budget shortfall of 7 percent in the 2012 fiscal year ending September 2012 was nearly 2 percentage points below the deficit recorded in the 2011 fiscal year, but still higher than any deficit between 1947 and 2008, the CBO said in a report.

This would mark the fourth fiscal year in a row that the US federal government budget exceeds the $1-trillion threshold. And the latest budget deficit projection for this fiscal year was higher than the previous estimate of $973 billion.

The report was a fresh reminder of the unsustainable fiscal trajectory of the US federal government.

CBO, the non-partisan budgetary and economic research agency for the Congress, predicted that the US federal government's budget deficit will drop to $585 billion in the 2013 fiscal year, largely due to rising revenue and the expiration of George W. Bush-era income tax cut policies.

However, many GOP lawmakers have fought hard for the continuation of the Bush-era tax cut policies, as they believe that raising taxes for job creators now would harm the still fragile economic recovery.

"The federal budget deficit - although starting to shrink - remains very large by historical standards," cautioned the CBO, adding that how much and how quickly the deficit declines will depend in part on how well the economy does over the next few years.

The pace of the economic recovery has been slow since the recession ended in June 2009, and the CBO expects that, under current laws governing taxes and spending, the economy will continue to grow at a sluggish pace over the next two years, according to the report.

WASHINGTON -- The US Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted on Tuesday that the US federal government would run a budget deficit of around $1.1 trillion in the 2012 fiscal year (FY).

Measured as a share of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP), the budget shortfall of 7 percent in the 2012 fiscal year ending September 2012 was nearly 2 percentage points below the deficit recorded in the 2011 fiscal year, but still higher than any deficit between 1947 and 2008, the CBO said in a report.

This would mark the fourth fiscal year in a row that the US federal government budget exceeds the $1-trillion threshold. And the latest budget deficit projection for this fiscal year was higher than the previous estimate of $973 billion.

The report was a fresh reminder of the unsustainable fiscal trajectory of the US federal government.

CBO, the non-partisan budgetary and economic research agency for the Congress, predicted that the US federal government's budget deficit will drop to $585 billion in the 2013 fiscal year, largely due to rising revenue and the expiration of George W. Bush-era income tax cut policies.

However, many GOP lawmakers have fought hard for the continuation of the Bush-era tax cut policies, as they believe that raising taxes for job creators now would harm the still fragile economic recovery.

"The federal budget deficit - although starting to shrink - remains very large by historical standards," cautioned the CBO, adding that how much and how quickly the deficit declines will depend in part on how well the economy does over the next few years.

The pace of the economic recovery has been slow since the recession ended in June 2009, and the CBO expects that, under current laws governing taxes and spending, the economy will continue to grow at a sluggish pace over the next two years, according to the report.

SEOUL - South Korea saw a greater reliance on China for rare earth supplies in 2011, with China accounting for nearly 80 percent of South Korea's rare earth imports, customs data showed Monday. 

South Korea purchased a total of 282 tons of rare earths from China last year, accounting for 78 percent of the country's total imports of 360 tons, according to the Korea Customs Service. 

South Korea's dependence on China for rare earths in 2011 rose by 13 percentage points from a year earlier, the data showed. 

Rare earth materials are key components of many modern-day technologies, including hybrid electric vehicles, liquid crystal displays and other high-tech equipment. 

Although South Korea is a leading exporter of semiconductors and smartphones, it depends almost wholly on outside supplies for the rare earth materials used in making these high-tech items. 

"We are now importing rare earth materials from 18 countries, up 3 countries from before but our dependence on China has been increasing," the agency said. 

"High reliance on a single country leaves us vulnerable to possible price hikes caused by market monopoly," it said while stressing the need for finding alternative materials and diversifying import sources.