International

• Thursday, May 26th 2011 - 16:10 UTC

  Ban Ki Moon to visit Uruguay that will hold UN Human Rights Council presidency

  

  Uruguay will be holding next month the presidency of the UN Human Rights Council during 2011/2012 and for this motive UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to visit Uruguay June 16th when he will be meeting President Jose Mujica and other top officials.

• Thursday, May 26th 2011 - 07:31 UTC

  Obama: despite the rise of new global powers, US and Europe lead

  

  President Obama has told British politicians that, despite the rise of new global powers, the time for US and European leadership “is now”. He said the influence of the US, UK and allies would remain “indispensable,” in a speech in Parliament on the second day of his UK state visit.

• Thursday, May 26th 2011 - 00:41 UTC

  Lagarde and Carsterns are both “credible” candidates to lead IMF says US

  

  United States Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said France's Christine Lagarde and Mexico's Agustin Carstens are both “credible” candidates to lead the International Monetary Fund, but he wants the candidate who can earn the broadest support.

• Wednesday, May 25th 2011 - 15:37 UTC

  OECD forecasts risks for world economy including ‘staginflation’

  

  The global economic recovery still faces many risks, which could lead to “stagflation”, the OECD has said in its latest economic outlook. World growth is forecast to be 4.2% this year, down from 4.9% last year, before rising to 4.6% in 2012.

• Wednesday, May 25th 2011 - 15:33 UTC

  Gibraltar opposition anticipates hostility with a Spanish PP government

  

  Gibraltar’s opposition has signalled unease with the prospect of the conservative PP forming a government in Spain in the near future. In a statement analysing the municipal results the Opposition says that Gibraltarians will feel “extremely nervous” about the prospect of the PP in power.

• 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.