International

• Wednesday, May 25th 2011 - 07:08 UTC

  UK and US: an essential relationship

  

  British Prime Minister David Cameron and US President Barack Obama have written a joint article for the Times at the start of the US State Visit to the UK.

• Wednesday, May 25th 2011 - 07:00 UTC

  BRIC countries slam Europe’s ‘obsolete grip’ on the IMF top job

  

  Top emerging economies joined forces to slam Europe's “obsolete” grip on the IMF top job, even as France's finance minister appeared to strengthen her lead in the race to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

• Wednesday, May 25th 2011 - 06:56 UTC

  Chinese credit rating agency downgrades UK with a negative outlook

  

  UK's credit rating has been cut by the Dagong rating agency of China. The agency blamed the UK's sluggish growth, which it said would be stuck in the 1.3%-1.5% range for two more years, hurting government finances.

• Wednesday, May 25th 2011 - 06:50 UTC

  Israel desalination plant will provide 20% of the country’s households water needs

  

  Israel's Finance Ministry has approved funding for the construction of the largest water desalination plant in the world. Under construction in Sorek, central Israel, the plant is scheduled to be completed in 2013 at a cost of 400 million US dollars.

• Wednesday, May 25th 2011 - 00:29 UTC

  G20 largest economies are avoiding protectionism says UNCTAS-OECD-WTO

  

  The Group of 20 (G20) largest economies are largely keeping their pledges to avoid protectionism as a reaction to the recent global recession, but the rest of the world is increasing trade barriers, a new report co-authored by the UN said Tuesday.

• Wednesday, May 25th 2011 - 00:27 UTC

  Transparency blasts OECD on poor results from the Anti-Bribery Convention

  

  A new report from the anti-corruption organization Transparency International (TI), shows no improvement in the enforcement of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention in the past year and warns that this could signal a dangerous loss of momentum in the fight against corruption.

• Tuesday, May 24th 2011 - 19:39 UTC

  France says China supports Lagarde as next IMF chief given Euro zone situation

  

  China would support Finance Minister Christine Lagarde as the next IMF chief the French government said backing which would put her firmly in pole position to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

• Tuesday, May 24th 2011 - 19:37 UTC

  Labour MP Dobbin new chairman of All Party Gibraltar Group

  

  British Labour MP Jim Dobbin is the new chairman of the All Party Gibraltar Group in the Commons. Mr Dobbin, elected at a meeting of the group Monday, takes on the position held by Eleanor Laing MP who resigned to take on the role of the Coalition Government’s special Gibraltar envoy with the MOD.

• Tuesday, May 24th 2011 - 19:29 UTC

  Royal 41-gun salute for the US President Obama at Buckingham Palace

  

  US President Barack Obama received a royal 41-gun salute at Buckingham Palace Tuesday to begin a two-day state visit aimed at ensuring the United States and Britain keep the “special” in their relationship.

• Tuesday, May 24th 2011 - 18:46 UTC

  US imposes sanctions on Venezuela’s PDVSA for engaging in trade with Iran

  

  United States announced new sanctions on Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA and six other smaller oil and shipping companies for engaging in trade with Iran in violation of a US ban.