Greece Sinks Further Into Recession

ATHENS—Greece was plunging deeper into recession at the close of last year, showing the devastation of the country's economy even before new austerity plans are implemented in the months ahead.

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An elderly woman begs outside the Bank of Greece headquarters in Athens on Tuesday.

Greece's gross domestic product contracted by an annual rate of 7% when adjusted for inflation, according to preliminary data reported by the Greek government statistics office Tuesday. The dire number was far worse than forecasts of a decline of up to 5%, and showed an accelerating contraction from the 5% year-to-year fall clocked in third quarter.

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The deepening of Greece's economic decline, now in its fifth year, came after an earlier rash of harsh austerity measures was imposed last September. Contributing to the malaise has been deteriorating consumer confidence as double-digit unemployment creeps higher and doubts grow over the country's future and its membership in the euro zone.

"We were expecting the recession to get worse but not at this pace," said Nikos Magginas, senior economist at National Bank of Greece.

Greece's sinking economy has overshadowed its talks with its European partners, who are demanding still more fiscal tightening as a condition for a new bailout agreement. Finance ministers from the 17 countries sharing the euro are scheduled to meet in Brussels on Wednesday to review Greece's proposals to fill 2012 budget gaps.

Last September's government austerity crackdown included higher excise taxes, in addition to new taxes on property and incomes. A political crisis in early November that collapsed the country's previous government contributed to consumer confidence falling to record lows.

The latest economic figures mean that the downturn last year was far worse than the government's forecast for a 5.5% decline in 2011, with economists now forecasting a contraction of around 6.7% to 6.8% for last year.

If those forecasts are borne out when revised GDP figures are released early next month, Greece's recent upward revision in its 2011 budget-deficit forecast might prove to have been overly optimistic.

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Meanwhile, Portugal's economy contracted slightly less than expected last year, but a sharp fall in activity in the fourth quarter signaled austerity measures are increasingly hitting the country.

Gross domestic product shrank 2.7% in the fourth quarter on an annual basis, and 1.3% from the third quarter, according to a flash estimate from the National Statistics Institute. For the year, the contraction was 1.5%, slightly better than the 1.6% estimated by the government and swinging from a 1.4% expansion in 2010. For 2012, the government expects a 3% contraction.

Economists say Portugal's true test will take place this year, when it must cut its budget deficit to 4.5% of GDP from 9.8% in 2010, while implementing measures that include a big cut in public wages.

This week Greek businesses and households learned that they now face even heavier doses of economic hardship. Greece's parliament late Sunday approved fresh austerity policies to win approval of a €130 billion ($171.43 billion) bailout from euro-zone governments and the International Monetary Fund. The aid package, Greece's second bailout in two years, aims to avert a potentially catastrophic debt default next month.

Greece's creditors argue that country must work to reduce its debts to more sustainable levels by closing budget deficits with new budget cuts and higher tax intake.

The coming round of cutbacks is seen hitting the economy hard, at least in the short term, because the measures will weigh heavily on private consumption, which accounts for about 70% of Greece's annual economic output.

Under the agreement, Greece will slash the minimum wage in the private sector by 22%, abolish 15,000 public-sector jobs this year and undertake more than €3 billion in fresh spending cuts, among other measures.

Vasiliki Gerani, a 27-year-old employee at an insurance company, said she is being forced to swallow the cuts in her wages, fearing that otherwise she will join Greece's growing army of jobless workers.

"I keep cutting down my expenses but still the situation is really bad. Of course I have to accept the new measures in order not to lose my job and should be happy with that since there so many unemployed people, especially at my age," she said.

Greek retailers said Tuesday they would step up a campaign opposing the latest government austerity measures and will participate in protest actions in the days and weeks ahead. The National Confederation of Greek Trade said many retailers will be forced to stop paying taxes.

"We decided to take advantage of the time period we have before the exhausting fiscal measures' implementation and propose the implementation of equivalent performance measures instead of recessional measures," said the confederation in a statement.

The trade group said in an earlier estimate that 60,000 of its members were forced to shut down during the last two years. Another 60,000 are expected to close in 2012 because of the economic situation, it said.

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With nearly one in two of those aged between 15 and 24 without a job in November, Greece's unemployment rate soared to 20.9% compared with an 18.2% rate just a month earlier. More than one million Greeks are now without jobs.

Labor-market conditions have been made worse by rising business bankruptcies with more than 200,000 enterprises expected to shut down by the end of this year, according to the Athens Chamber of Commerce.

The deeper-than-expected recession is also seen further harming Greece's ability to collect revenue, opening up a wider-than-targeted hole in the budget deficit last year.

As it is, Greece has already acknowledged a €2.5 billion shortfall in its 2011 budget deficit and hopes to close the year with a fiscal gap of 9% of GDP, or about €19.68 billion.

But in the past few weeks, government officials have indicated the shortfall could now come to around 9.2% of economic output—in part because of Greece's fast-deteriorating economy.

—Patricia Kowsmann contributed to this article.

Write to Stelios Bouras at stelios.bouras@dowjones.com and Nektaria Stamouli at nektaria.stamouli@dowjones.com
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Coach rips Clippers after 99-92 loss to Cavaliers

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Reporting from Cleveland -- Clippers Coach Vinny Del Negro called his team out, ripped them, using words like "professionalism" and saying they didn't play like "pros."

He questioned whether some players were more interested in "how many touches" they got. He talked about a lack of focus and not playing hard on defense, "stuff that losing teams talk about."

It was a mouthful after the Clippers dropped a 99-92 game to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Wednesday night at Quicken Loans Arena.

The Clippers were playing their first game since losing Chauncey Billups for the season because of a torn left Achilles' tendon.

But Del Negro didn't want to hear the Clippers still wallowing over losing Billups.

The coach was fine with Blake Griffin scoring 25 points and grabbing 15 rebounds, with Caron Butler having 21 points and newcomer Kenyon Martin providing the team with a lift off the bench with six points, four rebounds, two blocked shots and some toughness.

Del Negro was even OK with Chris Paul having a sub-par game, missing 11 of his 16 shots, scoring 16 points but handing out 12 assists.

Del Negro dealt with DeAndre Jordan not scoring in 24 minutes, with Mo Williams missing eight 10 shots in scoring five points and with the Clippers making 32 of 78 (41%) of their shots, including three of 15 (20%) three-pointers.

"But if the energy and the effort and the professionalism is there and the approach, I can deal with that," Del Negro said. "But when it's not, that's not what we're about."

Del Negro wasn't happy about the Clippers getting down by 15 points in the third quarter and allowing the Cavaliers to make 50.7% of their shots, 38.9% of their three-pointers.

"We need all of our players to play hard on the defensive end, have a defensive mind-set instead of worrying about how many touches they get and all that stuff that losing teams talk about," Del Negro said. "We have to focus in on what we control and that's our effort, our energy, our focus and how to win games. We didn't do that tonight and that's what I'm disappointed about."

The Cavaliers were playing on back-to-back nights and were without prized rookie point guard Kyrie Irving, who didn't play because of a concussion.

But they had four players score in double figures, led by Antawn Jamison (27 points, eight rebounds) and Ramon Sessions (24 points, 13 assists).

"We couldn't control Jamison," Del Negro said. "Sessions hurt us."

The Clippers had one last chance to tie the score after Daniel Gibson made one of two free throws for a 95-92 Cavaliers lead with 16.4 seconds left.

But Butler missed a three-pointer and Alonzo Gee made two free throws for a 97-92 Cavaliers lead.

Billups, who was replaced in the starting lineup by Randy Foye (15 points), was missed.

But Del Negro didn't want to hear that.

"Everyone has to deal with those things," Del Negro said about injuries. "But we have to move on with that. That would just be an excuse. Guys in there are pros, they are paid to play and we did not play like pros tonight."

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ERIC’S BIG HANGUP

New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman could have brought much-needed clarity to the nationwide foreclosure settlement talks yesterday — but instead left the year-plus-long matter a lot muddier.

Minutes before a much-anticipated 6 p.m. talk with the media — where he could have announced he was joining more than 40 other attorneys general in supporting the $25 billion deal — Schneiderman canceled.

No explanation was given to the reporters waiting on the line for the teleconference to begin. Calls to the AG’s office were not returned.

Schneiderman is among the most outspoken critics of the proposed plan, which will bring roughly $20 billion in mortgage modifications, a few billion in penalties and $2,000 payments to thousands who were improperly kicked out of their homes.

New York’s lawyer, among a handful opposed to the deal, was holding out from signing the proposed settlement because he wanted to protect his right to sue banks over their abuse of MERS, an electronic database used to track mortgages and liens.

He sued three banks over MERS last week.

The Obama administration was pressuring Schneiderman and the other holdout AGs — from California, Massachusetts, Delaware and Nevada — to sign the pact before a Feb. 6 deadline.

Schneiderman balked.

The pressure continued throughout yesterday and it was not known if Schneiderman used the conference call — organized at 2 p.m. — and the media as a chip in his white-knuckle talks with Washington.

Federal officials said Monday they had corralled more than 40 states to jump on board the deal, which would wrangle a $25 billion payout from five large banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank and Wells Fargo.

The exact reasons for the cancellation of Schneiderman’s scheduled call yesterday aren’t yet clear, but sources speculate that he may be getting closer to striking a compromise with the negotiations that are being led by Iowa AG Tom Miller.

At this point, the Obama administration, which has been pressuring both sides to come to terms, is hoping to be able to make an announcement of a deal by the end of the week.

But it’s unclear how many states will opt to be party to the nationwide accord.

While more than 40 states have signed the agreement, some of the biggest — California, New York and Florida — are still voicing concerns even as the deal is meant to be wrapped.

Schneiderman’s most recent move marks an on-again, off-again negotiation that has lasted for more than a year and has been described as more difficult than herding cats.

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Claims of Faked Shootouts Hit India's Police

MUMBAI—One of India's most famous police officers is on trial—accused of being a killer-for-hire—in a case that embodies the difficulty of trying to clean up the nation's notoriously corrupt crime-fighting forces.

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Ramprasad Gupta, pictured, says Pradeep Sharma shot his brother in a 'fake encounter.'

The officer, Senior Inspector Pradeep Sharma, was once so widely revered that two Bollywood movies have been inspired by his exploits. They include the 2004 hit "56 So Far," a reference to the large number of gangsters killed by the big-screen hero.

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Pradeep Sharma in a 2005 photo

Today Mr. Sharma is in jail, charged with killing a real-estate broker on behalf of a business rival in 2006, in what is known in India as a "fake encounter"—a murder that is falsely reported as a police shootout.

Faked police shootings are common in India, according to civil-rights groups, police officers and senior government ministers, who say they have taken steps to rein in the practice. While vigilante-style justice declined in Mumbai, it has spread to other parts of India, with cases being pursued in the capital city of New Delhi, and the western state of Gujarat, among other places. The Supreme Court, in a ruling last year to deny bail to Mr. Sharma and other officers, bemoaned 'the growing lawlessness in the country."

In an interview, one of Mr. Sharma's close friends and police colleagues openly acknowledged that police shootouts have long been staged. Sachin Waze, who served on Mr. Sharma's police team, said its mission was to kill suspected gangsters by any means and claim self-defense. "We just had to say that publicly because of the legal system," Mr. Waze said.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, former Mumbai Police Commissioner Julio Ribeiro spoke with reporter Geeta Anand about the growing problem of lawlessness and corruption in India's police force.

India's policing crisis exposes how the nation, despite modernizing its economy the past 20 years, hasn't kept pace with improvements to its law enforcement and the judiciary. Police forces tend to be poorly trained, and officers nationwide often live in slums because of low pay. They must cover three times as many people per officer (1,037) as the global average, according to 2009 figures from Human Rights Watch. According to Transparency International, an anticorruption advocacy group, police are reported as the most-bribed public-sector individuals in countries like India, where corruption is considered widespread.

The case against Mr. Sharma is complicated by the fact that the prosecution's most valuable witness—a friend of the alleged victim—was himself murdered last year. The badly burned corpse took months to identify.

Mr. Sharma, who is in jail, declined through his lawyer to comment. He denies the charges. His friend Mr. Waze said the allegations were concocted by colleagues jealous of Mr. Sharma's fame.

Crisis in India's Police

"Fake encounters" were popularized when gang warfare raged in Mumbai in the 1990s. Since then, these extrajudicial killings have spread across India, leading to what the presiding Supreme Court justice called "the growing lawlessness in the country."

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Several crime-fighting teams like Mr. Sharma's existed between 1998 and 2003, when Mumbai police began to phase them out, Mr. Waze said. The teams were fiercely competitive, he said: If a rival team killed one gangster, "We'd go out and kill two or three." Mr. Waze claims to have killed 63 gangsters himself. A police official couldn't confirm the numbers but said they sounded like an exaggeration.

The phenomenon of the faked shootout grew in the 1990s, when gang warfare raged in Mumbai. The city recently has tried to rein it in by suspending or firing some cops, but the phenomenon has already spread to India's far corners.

Last November, in Gujarat state, an investigator filed a court report alleging that police there faked a shootout to explain the deaths of a college girl and three friends. Also last year, a Delhi court ruled that local police staged a shootout in which they claimed to have captured four terrorists working for Pakistan. The National Human Rights Commission recently reported that, over the past two decades, it has received more than 20,000 cases of people allegedly dying in judicial custody, and more than 4,000 complaints of people dying in police custody.

The Journal is examining the threats to, and limits of, India's economic ascent.

For India's Lowest Castes, Path Forward Is Backward (12/9/2011)

Bribes, Bureaucracy Hobble India's New Entrepreneurs 11/1/2011)

The Ailing Health Of a Growing Nation (7/30/2011)

Class Struggle: India's Experiment In Schooling Tests Rich and Poor (6/4/2011)

India's Boom Bypasses Rural Poor (4/29/2011)

In India, Doubts Gather Over Rising Giant's Course (3/30/2011)

India's Supreme Court has demanded reform. In 2006, the court ordered the introduction of civilian monitoring committees to investigate complaints against police. Less than half of India's 28 states have passed the reform.

The Indian home minister, P. Chidambaram, who oversees law enforcement, acknowledged in an interview that police do sometimes fake shootouts to settle political or personal rivalries. But he also said that "many encounters are indeed genuine."

Mr. Chidambaram blamed police abuse on poor living and working conditions, which "dehumanize" officers. He also blamed a severe shortage of officers and a lack of training.

"This is a huge country, and you can't expect change overnight," Mr. Chidambaram said, noting that law enforcement is a state subject. To improve policing, he said, the central government is offering the states sample policies on policing and hiring. It has added 90,000 central-government police officers and has funded the hiring of another 100,000 state police each of the past two years.

Mr. Sharma's trial gets scant public attention, at least partly because people here widely believe police corruption is simply the status quo.

Referring to the use of fake shootouts, former Mumbai police commissioner Julio F. Ribeiro said: "The middle class was, and is, in favor of it." While Mr. Ribeiro opposes vigilantism, he said, he understands its appeal among frustrated citizens. People "are convinced that the judicial system doesn't work, so they support taking the shortcut and killing anyone suspected of wrongdoing," he said.

India's courts are indeed overstretched. Currently there is a backlog of 30 million civil and criminal cases combined, according to the National Bar Association.

Mr. Sharma, 49 years old and the son of a college professor, joined Mumbai's police in 1983. Mr. Sharma excelled academically in school, earning a master's degree in chemistry, but was bent on a more action-oriented life, friends and former colleagues say.

He quickly distinguished himself by his wit and daring, they say. Indian police traditionally rely on a lathi, a heavy stick, as an enforcement tool; Mr. Sharma earned notoriety for being quick to draw a gun. He killed an alleged Nigerian drug dealer and befriended a professor with links to a notorious Mumbai gang, friends and former colleagues say. The professor and others became his underworld informants.

When Mr. Sharma began nabbing gangsters, there were plenty to choose from. Gang violence escalated in the 1990s as criminals tried to get a piece of Mumbai's wild real-estate boom by extorting builders. In 1995, nine people died in shootouts in Mumbai. Two years later the number jumped to 72.

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Bollywood's Love Affair With Mumbai's Cops

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Newspapers at the time brimmed with stories of people being held up while hosting lavish weddings or buying fancy cars. People who didn't pay were often killed. Mumbai's Bollywood movie-production sets became the scene of real-life shootouts as producers were held up for ransom.

The police set up four teams to break the violence, one headed by Mr. Sharma. His friend, Mr. Waze, joined his team in 2000. Mr. Waze said Mr. Sharma was considered "one of the best that the department had."

Mr. Sharma and his team became household names nationwide. When Mr. Sharma's deputy founded a new school, India's biggest movie star, Amitabh Bachchan, showed up to inaugurate it.

The campaign worked: Gang violence waned. But at the same time, complaints mounted alleging that the city's elite crime-fighters were becoming involved in financial transactions with the gangs themselves. Deven Bharti, additional commissioner of police in Mumbai, said investigators found evidence that suggested some officers, including Mr. Sharma, were colluding with the underworld for money.

Mr. Waze denies Mr. Sharma made money through deals with the underworld.

Mr. Waze himself faces criminal charges that, in 2003, he killed a man accused of terrorism while transporting him from one city to another. He denies the charges. "I have said, he ran from my custody," Mr. Waze said when asked about the killing. He resigned from the police department and is currently running a small business while awaiting trial.

Mr. Sharma remains imprisoned awaiting a verdict on charges that he arranged the 2006 kidnapping and killing of a real-estate broker, Ramnarayan Gupta.

His alleged victim had a checkered past. Between 1989 and 1998, Mr. Gupta was charged with several murders and attempted murders, although police records indicate that the cases were never resolved one way or the other.

But by the late 1990s, Mr. Gupta had cleaned up his act, according to several friends and associates. Police records also show that, after 1998, he was accused of no more crimes.

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Poster for '56 So Far,' a movie inspired by Mr. Sharma several years ago.

According to court testimony by one of his friends, Anil Bheda, Mr. Gupta had rebuilt his life as a real-estate agent. At the time of his death, Mr. Gupta made a living buying and selling land for farmers and property developers, court documents show.

In November 2006—around the time of his death—Mr. Gupta got into a fight with a businessman over a land deal, according to Mr. Bheda's testimony. Mr. Bheda said Mr. Gupta told him he "got drunk," went to the businessman's house and "threatened to kill his son."

That businessman is accused of conspiring with Mr. Sharma to have Mr. Gupta killed, according to court documents. He denies the allegations.

A few days after the fight, around lunchtime, Mr. Bheda was standing on the street with Mr. Gupta when several men jumped out of a silver sport-utility vehicle and pushed the two men inside, Mr. Bheda said in his written testimony. They were taken to a police station and found themselves in a room with Mr. Sharma, according to the testimony.

Mr. Bheda said the police separated the two men, and it was the last time he saw his friend. That night, local television news reported that the police had killed a wanted criminal, Mr. Gupta, in a shootout around 8 p.m., court documents say.

A police document filed in court in 2006 gives the police's version of the killing. It says officers received a tip that Mr. Gupta would be visiting a certain place that evening, and when he arrived in a rickshaw, they tried to arrest him—prompting him to shoot at the police, who fired back in self-defense.

For the next month or so, Mr. Bheda testified that he was held mostly incommunicado in police custody. But the dead Mr. Gupta had a champion: His younger brother, Ramprasad Gupta.

The moment his elder brother was shoved into the SUV, the younger Mr. Gupta received a phone call from a witness, he said in an interview. "I immediately thought it must be a fake encounter," he said.

Starting at 4 p.m. that day, he said, he sent faxes and telegrams to the Mumbai police commissioner and to local politicians. "Ramnarayan Vishwanath Gupta and Anil Bheda picked by police," one telegram reads. "Their life is in danger. Please help and save their life."

Police say the telegrams and faxes didn't reach the police commissioner that day because they weren't properly addressed and it was a holiday.

In separate investigations, a magistrate and a deputy police commissioner determined that the alleged shootout that killed the elder Mr. Gupta never actually occurred, and that police had likely murdered him, according to court documents and interviews with senior police officers. Based largely on testimony from Mr. Bheda, several officers including Mr. Sharma were arrested in January 2010.

The younger Mr. Gupta takes pride in the fight for his brother. "Sometimes you find yourself in a position to do something important, to change history," he said.

In March of last year, Mr. Bheda disappeared for good. The evening of his disappearance, a corpse turned up in a wooded area in Mumbai's northern suburbs. It was his body, burned beyond recognition.

The trial of Mr. Sharma and the 21 other accused—mostly police officers—began in Mumbai Sessions Court in July and is expected to take several more months. Mr. Waze said neither he nor Mr. Sharma ordered the killing of Mr. Bheda or any other person.

Mr. Waze said he expects Mr. Sharma to be exonerated. "Pradeep Sharma loves nothing better than police work," Mr. Waze said. "He hopes to be back on the job as soon as his name is cleared."

—Diksha Sahni contributed to this article.

Write to Geeta Anand at geeta.anand@wsj.com
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Developing Nations Seek Safeguards for Workers

JAKARTA—Indonesia, the Philippines and other developing countries are demanding more rights and higher wages world-wide for their legions of unskilled laborers—a trend that could shake up global labor markets.

The most recent battles have centered on maids, whose ranks have swelled in recent years in rich nations in the Middle East, Asia and elsewhere. The fight has implications beyond house cleaners and nannies. Advocates are hoping the push for more rights for domestic servants will spread to other unskilled migrants, as some countries grow increasingly reliant on imported cheap labor to baby-sit for their children, staff their factories and build their skyscrapers.

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An Indonesian migrant worker prepared to be sent to Saudi Arabia, covers her face during an inspection by police after a raid at a shelter in Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia.

The millions who go abroad to take jobs as domestic workers—mostly women employed as maids, but also including such traditionally male jobs as gardeners and cooks—are a crucial source of foreign currency back home, and are emerging as an important vote bank.

The poorer nations that supply the labor are now insisting their citizens receive better protection, fair pay, equal treatment under local laws and weekly days off.

The United Nations' International Labor Organization is helping propel the campaign. Last year, it pushed through an international convention to protect domestic workers around the globe that outlines some basic rights, such as fixed working hours and weekly holidays.

"Until now, this had hardly been considered labor that others would recognize as needing labor protection," because the work is done by women, who traditionally did it at home for free, said Lotte Kejser, the Jakarta-based chief technical adviser for the ILO.

The Philippines—one of the world's biggest exporters of labor in general, with close to eight million citizens working abroad at any given time—recently blacklisted more than 40 countries for not having proper labor safeguards. The Philippines recently got Saudi Arabia to agree to impose minimum salaries and other benefits. Filipino maids recently won a landmark case in Hong Kong, granting full-time residency to those who have been living there at least a decade.

"This can be traced from a history of abuse that many of our overseas workers are encountering," said Rosalinda Baldoz, the Philippines' secretary of labor and employment. "We want more transparency in terms and conditions."

Indonesia also has clashed with Saudi Arabia. Indonesian authorities last year blocked the country's domestic workers from going to the kingdom, following reports of rape and torture of its citizens working in private homes, along with the more common complaints of contract violations. In one case, a maid was beheaded, without warning, after being found guilty of the murder of her employer, according to Indonesian officials, who say they believe it may have been a matter of self-defense.

Saudi Arabian authorities didn't respond to requests to comment.

Cambodia, after reports of abuse, has stopped its domestic workers from going to Malaysia.

In January, Indonesia's Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar threatened to block all Indonesian maids from taking jobs overseas in the next five years if more progress isn't made. The government also wants better monitoring of brokers and hiring households.

"Host countries need to start recognizing normal rights, such as to set working hours, leave and minimum wages," said Jumhur Hidayat, an adviser to Indonesia's president on overseas worker issues.

Malaysian authorities said they are taking steps to ensure the rights of Indonesian maids will be respected, and that a new accord with the Indonesian government—which also guarantees workers' rights to hold on to their own passports, rather than have them held by employer or their agency—will apply to maids from March.

In home countries, politicians are starting to acknowledge the potential clout of the millions of maids and their families as an important block of constituents. They are quick to express outrage at reports of maid abuse abroad, and to threaten retaliation. Some countries, including India and the Philippines, are looking for ways to make it easier for their overseas workers to vote in elections.

Meanwhile, remittances from overseas workers to developing countries have quadrupled in the past 11 years, according to the World Bank, to more than $350 billion. In the Philippines, remittances are equal to nearly 11% of its gross domestic product.

Labor economists say they expect tensions to increase as more workers look overseas for opportunities.

The number of migrant domestic workers has jumped in the past decade. Lower airfares, improved communications and the spread of the Internet have made it easier to travel and to share information about job opportunities.

The increased global connectivity also has spread horror stories faster, raising the awareness of the need for more protection for overseas workers.

Some labor-importing countries are pushing back on the new demands. Malaysians have started looking for domestic help from other sources, such as Vietnam. Singapore has tightened restrictions on all types of immigration.

Saudi Arabia last year said it would stop accepting maids from Indonesia and the Philippines, even as Indonesia banned its workers from going there. Riyadh is in the middle of a drive to reduce the number of foreigners working in the country by hiring Saudis, though the move is mostly fueled by fears that low youth employment fed the uprisings in neighboring Mideast countries.

Tougher standards for more pay and protection for domestic servants also could curb demand, as some parents in the developed world leave the formal work force or work fewer hours to take care of their homes, said Dilip Ratha, lead economist and manager of the migration and remittances team at the World Bank.

"If you are in Singapore or Dubai, or even London or New York, not having access to affordable domestic workers is a problem," he said. "It could significantly affect the labor supply and productivity" of working parents.

—Yayu Yuniar
and Celine Fernandez
contributed to this article.

Write to Eric Bellman at eric.bellman@wsj.com

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I went down to Gwithian Beach yesterday, even though the sunset didn't look as promising as I'd hoped. It was freezing cold - some of the shallow pools of water on the rocks had frozen. However, it was a lovely evening and I'm glad I went - even though my fingers took ages to thaw out!

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Sky

Clouds

Sunset

Beach

Coast

Sea

Sand

Winter

Frozen

Rocks

Gwithian

Cornwall
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ART FREAK STUDIO VISITS: Anne-Marie Herckes

ART FREAK STUDIO VISITS: Anne-Marie Herckes

12/11/11
Luxembourgish fashion designer Anne-Marie Herckes welcomed teenagers from 12 to 19 years old in her studio on invitation of Mudam Luxembourg.

!!! NEXT STUDIO VISIT !!!
Paul Kirps
18/02/2012 10.30am-11.30am
Luxemburgish artist Paul Kirps welcomes you in his studio.
Booking mandatory: artfreak@mudam.lu, t +352 45 37 85 531

Photo: Mudam Luxembourg

Tags

mudam

luxembourg

artist

studio

visit

teenager

museum

art

contemporary

designer

fashion

Anne-Marie Herckes, Paul Kirps, STUDIO VISIT

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Varied Honeyeater

Varied Honeyeater

Quite a bit duller than the form found in North Queensland, but I think that I have the I.D. correct.

Tags

Jais Aben

Madang

Papua New Guinea

Varied Honeyeater

Lichenostomus versicolor
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Cronulla storm

Cronulla storm

From the archives. Series of 3 taken on a stormy day in Cronulla, June 2010.

Tags

Cronulla

Sydney

Australia

Storm

Sea

Ocean

Water

Movement

Flow

Horizon

Clouds

Rain

Sky

Seascape

Long Exposure

dexodexo

Douwe Dijkstra

Cronulla, stormy day, ExposuredexodexoDouwe Dijkstra

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White Beach

White Beach

Tags

turkey

istanbul

winter

snow

seaside

sea

suadiye

tz8

zs5

lumix

panasonic
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