Highlighting the centrality of the marine environment to human well-being, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed the collective global responsibility to protect the world’s oceans.
Despite a large rise in the two months to August, wheat prices remain well below levels reached during the boom in 2008 and market pricing indicates that the risks of further large price spikes have eased, says a report from the IMF.
European Union has reached an agreement on reforms in the financial sector with the creation of a European Systemic Risk Council and three new watchdogs covering banking, insurance and securities markets.
The world economy is recovering moderately but still faces challenges such as the need for medium-term fiscal consolidation, IMF First Managing Director, John Lipsky said on Sunday.
A fuel tanker loaded with 9 million litres of diesel fuel has run aground in Canada's Far North but none of the fuel has spilled, the Canadian Coast Guard said on Thursday.
The first six months of 2010 saw international tourist arrivals grow by 7% according to the August Interim Update of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. This result confirms the recovery trend beginning in the last quarter of 2009 and is expected to continue in the second half of the year at a somewhat more moderate rate but with Asia and Middle East continuing to lead.
Demand for international passenger and cargo traffic increased 9.2% and 22.7% respectively in July compared to the same month a year ago, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The year-on-year comparisons for July were less than the June growth data showing 11.6% and 26.6% increases respectively.
Manufacturing growth in the US and China improved in August, helping to boost global stock markets. The US sector expanded for its 13th straight month in August, according to the Institute for Supply Management.
As voting began in the election to choose a new British Labour leader, former prime minister Tony Blair issued a warning to the party not to drift to the left. Although he made no endorsement in his memoirs, published this week, of any of the five candidates to succeed Gordon Brown, Mr Blair's comments will be seen as a mark of support for front-runner David Miliband over his brother Ed.
US authorities have indicted 11 German and Chinese executives for conspiring to illegally import 40 million US dollars of honey from China. The executives were accused of being part of an operation which mislabelled honey and tainted it with antibiotics in an attempt to avoid import duties.