International

• Saturday, March 26th 2011 - 09:03 UTC

  BBC changes 70 year Mandarin service for BBC Chinese language websites

  

  BBC Chinese Service has made its final radio broadcast in Mandarin after nearly 70 years. Shortwave programming in Mandarin is a casualty of spending cuts announced by the BBC World Service in January.

• Saturday, March 26th 2011 - 07:45 UTC

  HMS Gloucester returns to Portsmouth from Falklands on her final homecoming

  

  HRH The Duchess of Gloucester joined Type-42 destroyer HMS Gloucester as she sailed back into Portsmouth Friday from her seven-month deployment to the South Atlantic patrolling Falklands and South Georgia Island waters.

• Saturday, March 26th 2011 - 07:35 UTC

  Ecological disaster in Tristan da Cunha: penguins and lobster at risk plus threat of rats

  

  A race to rescue up to 20,000 endangered northern Rockhopper penguins from an oil spill in an isolated South Atlantic British island group was under way this week after a cargo ship ran aground.

• Friday, March 25th 2011 - 09:23 UTC

  Nato agrees to take command from the US in enforcing no-fly zone over Libya

  

  Nato has agreed to take command of enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya from the US. But Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen made clear that other aspects of the operation would remain in the hands of the current coalition for now.

• Friday, March 25th 2011 - 09:19 UTC

  Syria pledges to introduce reforms to meet protestor’s demands

  

  Syrian leaders have pledged to introduce reforms to meet the demands of protesters, after days of violence in the southern city of Deraa. Officials promised to study the need for lifting the state of emergency, in place since 1963.

• Thursday, March 24th 2011 - 19:59 UTC

  Portugal has Euro zone on the brink; bail out package considered at EU summit

  

  EU leaders are grappling with a new Euro zone threat after Portugal's parliament rejected an austerity budget and PM Jose Socrates resigned. The vote means an international bail-out, similar to those accepted by Greece and the Irish Republic last year, is now far more likely.

• Thursday, March 24th 2011 - 17:44 UTC

  Spain top three banks left out of Moody downgrading of 30 institutions

  

  Moody's risk ratings agency on Thursday downgraded the ratings of 30 Spanish banks, a direct consequence of its decision earlier this month to downgrade indebted Spain's sovereign rating.

• Thursday, March 24th 2011 - 06:32 UTC

  Bank of England remains divided 6 to 3 on interest rate hike

  

  Six members of the Bank of England’s nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee, including Governor Mervyn King, continued to oppose the minority campaign for an immediate rise in benchmark UK interest rates at the MPC’s meeting two weeks ago, minutes revealed Wednesday.

• Thursday, March 24th 2011 - 06:19 UTC

  The world’s rarest albatross confirmed as a separate species by scientists

  

  The world's rarest albatross has been confirmed as a separate species by scientists. The genetic analysis solves 20 years of debate over the status of the Amsterdam albatross.
  Canadian researchers have proven that the birds' DNA varies significantly from wandering albatrosses, their closest living relatives.

• Thursday, March 24th 2011 - 03:42 UTC

  Japan estimates cost of the earthquake and tsunami could reach 300 billion USD

  

  Japan estimated the cost of the damage from its devastating earthquake and tsunami could top 300 billion US dollars (close to 6% of GDP). The first official estimate since the March 11 disaster covers damage to roads, homes, factories and infrastructure.