The Basque separatist group ETA says it has called a definitive cessation to its campaign of bombings and shootings. In a statement provided to the BBC, Eta called on the Spanish and French governments to respond with a process of direct dialogue.
The European Union has agreed that around 100 billion Euros is needed to recapitalise the European banking system, but splits remain before a high-profile summit on Sunday over how to strengthen the Euro zone's bailout fund.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday that the death of Muammar Gaddafi turned a page for the Libyan people and signalled the start of a democratic process.
In the current global context “it’s hard to see an advance in the free trade negotiations with the European Union” said on Wednesday the block’s High representative Ambassador Samuel Pinheiro Guimaraes.
In an attempt to accelerate talks on a trilateral free trade agreement (FTA) , the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) summit decided to hold an annual meeting of trade ministers from the three countries beginning from March next year.
Former Brazilian president Lula da Silva recommended European Union leaders to stop discussing balancing budgets and recapitalization of banks and find a solution to the current crisis through more economic growth, more trade and more jobs.
Britain’s House of Commons strongly supports a closer bilateral relationship with Brazil, which it describes as a democratic, well governed, responsible state but regrets the hardening position of Brazil towards the Falklands and the HMS Clyde incident.
UK Europe Minister David Lidington declared that Prime Minister David Cameron “is a firm and loyal friend of Gibraltar and of its people” and the present British Government is “firmly and uncompromisingly committed to the security and the sovereignty of Gibraltar including British Gibraltar Territorial Waters”.
Spain’s former president Felipe Gonzalez said that Latin American countries which in the eighties suffered financial problems because of the debt crisis are now looking on the European economic situation with “some joy”.
Plans to tackle the Euro zone debt crisis have stalled with Paris and Berlin at odds over how to increase the firepower of the region's bailout fund, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday afternoon.