Brazil and Russia signed an agreement on Tuesday to jointly develop top-line jet fighters and satellite launch vehicles. Strategic Affairs Minister Roberto Mangabeira Unger said the agreement will lead to the development of fifth-generation jet fighters that are built using sophisticated engineering, such as composite materials, stealth technology and advanced radar.
The United States fourth-largest bank Wachovia Corporation reported a 393 million US dollars loss in the first quarter and has been forced to cut its dividend and seek a 7 billion US dollar cash injection to make up its mortgage business.
The G7 group of most industrialized nations, meeting in Washington, approved a plan Saturday aimed at easing the continuing crisis in the global credit markets.
Including calls for more oversight of financial firms and greater financial transparency, G7 members have committed themselves to its implementation
The credit crisis is still sending shockwaves around the world and leading banks have now accepted much of the blame for the current turbulence in the financial markets. At a meeting of the Institute of International Finance in Frankfurt, senior bankers acknowledged that weaknesses in business practices, including bankers' pay and the management of risk, may have contributed to the crisis, reports the BBC.
Haiti Parliament voted on Saturday to oust Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis following widespread anger over rising food prices that led to days of deadly protests and looting.
India's President Pratibha Patil left on Saturday for a Latinamerican tour of Brazil, Mexico and Chile with the purpose of strengthening trade, investment and political ties with the region.
The World Bank announced Sunday a 10 million US dollar grant for Haiti to help the Government respond to the increasing, unaffordable prices of food for poor families.
In Haiti, the prices of rice, corn, beans, cooking oil and other foodstuffs have increased significantly in the last few months.
The rapid rise in food prices could push 100m people in poor countries deeper into poverty, the head of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, has said.
His warning follows that from the leader of the International Monetary Fund, who said hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of starvation.
The Chilean government said Thursday that the record high copper price reached on the London Metal Exchange, over 4 US dollars a pound, is good news but also demands prudence.
Economy Nobel Prize Joseph Stiglitz, a fierce critic of the International Monetary Fund said that this time the fund's experts have it right in their assessment of the current global financial and credit crisis, which many economists however consider as to harsh and pessimistic.