BBC news:
Nissan to cut 20,000 global jobs
Nissan plant
Nissan’s boss has painted a bleak picture

Nissan is to cut 20,000 jobs worldwide, 8.5% of its workforce, over the next year because of a sharp fall in sales.

The Japanese carmaker made the announcement as it said it expected to make a loss of 265bn yen ($2.9bn; £2bn) for its current financial year.

Nissan chief executive Carlos Ghosn said the the firm’s “worst assumptions on the state of the global economy have been met or exceeded”.

“The global auto industry is in turmoil. Nissan is no exception.”

Negatively affecting Asian share prices today were comments from the Bank of Japan’s chief economist, Kazuo Momma, who said that Japan’s economy is deteriorating at a pace unseen in the past half century as it contracted at an “unimaginable” speed last quarter and is likely to slump at a similar rate or worse in the three months ending March.

BBC video on Credit Crunch:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7688308.stm