International

• Thursday, June 23rd 2011 - 04:11 UTC

  Falkland Islands competitors skip ash cloud and are en route to Island Games

  

  Falkland Islands competitors and delegates, with patience and persistence, finally managed to skip the volcanic ash cloud and are on their way to the Isle of Wight for the NatWest Island Games which open next Saturday.

• Wednesday, June 22nd 2011 - 23:33 UTC

  G20 agriculture summit to discuss food security and regulating global markets

  

  World food prices that rose 37% in a year, driving 44 million more people into poverty, are a “plague” that needs action from world leaders now, said French President Nicolas Sarkozy during the two-day Group of 20 agriculture ministers in Paris.

• Wednesday, June 22nd 2011 - 23:16 UTC

  FIFA ethics committee confirms “convincing and overwhelming” evidence of corruption

  

  FIFA's ethics committee found “comprehensive, convincing and overwhelming” evidence that Mohamed bin Hammam and Jack Warner were involved in attempted bribery, according to the preliminary report that led to the suspension of the two officials.

• Wednesday, June 22nd 2011 - 16:31 UTC

  World’s largest bond fund predicts default for Greece “and other European economies”

  

  The head of PIMCO, the world's biggest bond fund, predicted that Greece and other European economies would default on their debts to resolve their problems as the Euro area deals with its debt crisis.

• Wednesday, June 22nd 2011 - 02:46 UTC

  British Deputy PM Clegg describes Brazil as an “environmental super-power”

  

  British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg praised Brazil as an “environmental super-power” underlining the country’s leadership in areas such as renewable energies which he described as one of the pillars of the ‘green economy’ for a more sustainable world.

• Tuesday, June 21st 2011 - 21:35 UTC

  Luxembourg has highest EU GDP per capita; 6.5 times Bulgaria

  

  Luxembourg is by far the richest country in the European Union in terms of GDP per capita, more than six times more affluent than the 27-nation bloc's poorest member Bulgaria, data showed.

• Tuesday, June 21st 2011 - 21:28 UTC

  Young emperor penguin turns up on a New Zealand beach

  

  A young emperor penguin, normally found in the Antarctic, has turned up on a New Zealand beach. It is a rare event, the first confirmed sighting of an Emperor penguin in New Zealand in 44 years.

• Tuesday, June 21st 2011 - 20:24 UTC

  Ban Ki-moon appointed to a second term as Secretary General

  

  The United Nations General Assembly agreed Tuesday to appoint Ban Ki-moon to a second consecutive term as the Secretary-General of the 192-member Organization.

• Tuesday, June 21st 2011 - 19:27 UTC

  Falklands publicly invites Decolonization Committee president to visit the Islands

  

  Falklands’ representative publicly invited the president of the UN Decolonization Committee to see for himself the reality of the self-sufficient and self-governing Islands, and called on C24 to recognize “the primacy of our right to self determination above anything and everything else”.

• Tuesday, June 21st 2011 - 16:04 UTC

  Chile’s volcanic ash cloud again visits Australasia forcing grounding of air traffic

  

  A volcanic ash cloud, which originated in Chile on 4 June and has caused significant disruption to air travel around Australia and New Zealand since 12 June returned on Tuesday to Australasia forcing further cancellations for at the least the next 48 hours.