International
InternationalRio Tinto sells mining assets in Argentina and Brazil
Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto Group is selling mining assets in Argentina, Brazil and Canada to Brazilian competitor Vale Doce for 1.6 billion US dollars in an attempt to reduce its 39 billion debt load y 10 billion. The group also admitted it was considering a big equity issue.
Unemployment in EU: 18 million and another 3.5 m by 2010
Unemployment in the Euro zone countries climbed to 8% in December, the highest in over two and a half years, with the total number of jobless reaching 12.472 million in the Euro zone and 17.911 million in all the 27 EU member states according to a Eurostat study released on Friday
Ban Ki-moon urges Davos leader to forge “”Green New Deal”
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the world's business and other leaders to use the current economic crisis to launch a global “Green New Deal” that creates jobs and fights climate change by investing in renewable energy and technological development.
Bankers at Davos call for a review of financial rules
The chairman of one of the world's leading banks headquartered in London, HSBC, Stephen Green has said that the current financial rules must be “fundamentally revised” as they had deepened the financial crisis.
Unemployment reveals impact of crisis on real economy
The global economic crisis is expected to lead to a dramatic increase in the number of people joining the ranks of the unemployed, working poor and those in vulnerable employment, the International Labour Office (ILO) said in its annual Global Employment Trends report released on Thursday.
Davos: China admits crisis; Russia cuts defence outlays
China admitted the global financial crisis has had “a rather big impact” on its economy and Russia warned of over relying on the US dollar as a reserve currency, at the major World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
Southern Ocean climate fix remains afloat
Plans to curb climate change by using plankton to draw carbon dioxide into the world's oceans have been boosted.
China builds station on Antarctica's highest icecap
China set up this week its third Antarctic research station, also the country's first on the continent's inland. Kunlun station was erected at Dome Argus (Dome A), the South Pole's highest icecap at 4,093 metres above the sea level, reports the Beijing press.
Broadband Internet access for all UK homes by 2012
Every home in the UK is to have broadband internet access by 2012 under Government plans. Lord Carter's Digital Britain report proposed to scrap BT's obligation to ensure every home has access to a telephone line and replace it with a requirement to provide broadband
Germany agrees on Merkel's “most difficult decision”
Germany's cabinet sealed a multi-billion stimulus package on Tuesday aimed at hauling Europe's biggest economy out of what is feared could be its worst slump for six decades.
