International

• Tuesday, November 15th 2011 - 17:23 UTC

  Pod of 65 pilot whales stranded in New Zealand; high tide could save 34

  

  Half of a pod of sixty-five pilot whales stranded on the northern tip of New Zealand’s southern island have died and the surviving 34 are stuck in shallow water, between two and three kilometres offshore.

• Tuesday, November 15th 2011 - 17:04 UTC

  Contract for infrastructure defence support in Falklands, Gibraltar and Ascension

  

  A UK-based company named as the Ministry of Defence’s new infrastructure support provider in Gibraltar has also won contracts for other British complexes in the Falkland Islands, Ascension Island and Cyprus as well as Gibraltar.

• Tuesday, November 15th 2011 - 06:43 UTC

  Monti begins round of contacts with major parties; confirms 2013 elections

  

  Italy's Prime Minister-designate Mario Monti said on Monday his first day of talks for a new government were constructive and he hoped to form an administration that could take the country through to the next scheduled elections in 2013.

• Tuesday, November 15th 2011 - 06:40 UTC

  Greek ‘technocrat’ PM faces confidence motion Wednesday

  

  Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said on Monday the policies tied to Athens' international bailout had worsened a recession and pushed unemployment higher, but the problem could be mitigated with reforms.

• Monday, November 14th 2011 - 21:02 UTC

  None of world major economies will escape a slowdown forecasts the OECD

  

  None of the world's major economies will escape a slowdown, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said, highlighting increasing signs that growth momentum is dwindling across the board.

• Monday, November 14th 2011 - 20:58 UTC

  Merkel calls for EU political union as long term solution to Euro crisis

  

  As technocrats leaders in Italy and Greece rush to form governments as they sought to limit the damage from the Euro zone debt crisis – and the Euro climbed on relief that a key Italian bond auction drew decent demand from investors – German chancellor Angela Merkel stepped up to defend Europe’s common currency.

• Monday, November 14th 2011 - 20:51 UTC

  Brazilian trade minister and 53 companies on African business round

  

  A business mission of 53 companies organised by the Brazilian government plans to begin a tour of Mozambique, Angola and South Africa on 21 November, an Apex-Brasil official said in Sao Paulo.

• Monday, November 14th 2011 - 20:47 UTC

  Brazil moves into Tanzania and will help increase power generation five-fold

  

  Brazilian business and public contractor giant Odebrecht Company Limited, with top global businesses and operations across a wide variety of industries, has shown interest in undertaking the huge Stiegler's Gorge power project in Tanzania’s Rufiji river basin, according to “The East African” weekly.

• Monday, November 14th 2011 - 20:18 UTC

  Mercosur/EU confident of a first proposals exchange in mid 2012

  

  The seventh round of Mercosur/EU trade negotiations held in Montevideo ended with “progress in some areas at regulation and norms levels” and with the commitment of exchanging proposals in mid 2012, according to Joao Aguiar Machado head of the EU team.

• Monday, November 14th 2011 - 18:29 UTC

  Meryl (Lady Thatcher) unveils “The Iron Lady” poster before Parliament

  

  US actress Meryl Streep gave a sneak peek Monday at what she will look like as.” The award-winning star unveiled the official poster for the upcoming film in London before Parliament House.