Stories for October 1st 2011

Saturday, October 1st 2011 - 06:32 UTC
Abbas scheduled to visit Colombia after crucial support vote for Palestine

Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas is scheduled to visit Colombia, a country which holds a non permanent seat at the UN Security Council and could cast a decisive vote for the recognition of a State of Palestine.
Saturday, October 1st 2011 - 05:54 UTC
Brazilian president calls on Central bank for “a cycle of interest rate reductions”

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff made on Friday her strongest call yet for the central bank to continue cutting borrowing costs. At an event in Sao Paulo she said it was “inadmissible” for policy makers not to take into account the possibility of a recession and even a depression in the global economy.
Saturday, October 1st 2011 - 05:50 UTC
Achieving investment grade is “not critical” for Uruguay, says Economy minister

Achieving investment grade in the current global scenario is “not critical” for Uruguay since the country has sufficient financing and operates in world markets as “if it had a better rating than it actually has”, said Economy minister Fernando Lorenzo.
Saturday, October 1st 2011 - 05:46 UTC
Piñera promises 7.2% of GDP for education trying to calm protesting students

The Chilean government proposed a 5% increase in public spending and a 7.2% gain in education outlays next year as it tries to end four months of protests that have seen a quarter of a million students miss classes and weekly battles with the police.
Saturday, October 1st 2011 - 05:42 UTC
Chilean Peso in September slumps 10%, and copper slides 24%

Chile’s peso posted its biggest monthly drop since Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed as a slump in copper dimmed trade prospects for the metal’s biggest producer. The peso sank 1.3% to 519.75 per US dollar on Friday.
Saturday, October 1st 2011 - 05:36 UTC
UK worst place to live in Europe for quality of life, says uSwitch.com

The UK is now the worst place to live in Europe for quality of life and overall wellbeing, according to research by comparison site uSwitch.com. The high cost of living and work-driven culture means that Britain now sits at the bottom of a Quality of Life index. Ireland doesn’t come far behind in second place.
Saturday, October 1st 2011 - 05:34 UTC
NYC mayor blasts US visa policy: turning away skilled workers ‘national suicide’

The United States needs to allow more visas to help the economy and should let highly skilled engineers who study in US universities stay in the country, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in Washington.
Saturday, October 1st 2011 - 05:30 UTC
Banks and bonds of Italy and Spain need to be protected, warns Soros

Policymakers have lost control of the economic crisis and financial markets are forcing the world into a depression, George Soros said on Friday, urging Europe to create a common Treasury, recapitalize its banks and protect vulnerable states.
Saturday, October 1st 2011 - 03:28 UTC
Royal Navy begins redundancy program to cut Service personnel by 5.000

As part of the UK Armed Forces Redundancy Program, and following on from the Army and the RAF earlier this month, on Friday the Royal Navy begun notifying personnel selected for redundancy in Tranche 1 of the program.
Saturday, October 1st 2011 - 01:16 UTC
Construction activity in Argentina remains steady as investors choose “bricks”

Argentina's construction activity rose 7.3% on the year in August, as builders and private investors continued to benefit from a booming economy and high inflation.