International

• Saturday, November 20th 2010 - 04:58 UTC

  Tourism industry generates 9% of global GDP and 8% of world employment

  

  The travel and tourism industry is one of the largest and most dynamic industries in today’s global economy expected to generate about 9% of total GDP and provide for more than 235 million jobs in 2010 representing 8% of global employment.

• Friday, November 19th 2010 - 18:07 UTC

  China imposes second banks’ reserve hike in two weeks

  

  China's central bank has raised the amount of money that lenders must keep in reserve, as it moves again to try to control the country's high inflation. The People's Bank of China said the reserve ratio would go up by a further 0.5 percentage points on 29 November.

• Friday, November 19th 2010 - 05:01 UTC

  UK inflation rises to 3.2% in October pushed by higher fuel prices

  

  The UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation rate rose unexpectedly to 3.2% in October, official figures show, on the back of higher fuel prices. Analysts had expected the CPI figure to remain unchanged at 3.1%.

• Friday, November 19th 2010 - 04:58 UTC

  Ireland admits it needs financial help and feels “no sense of shame”

  

  The Irish Republic's finance minister has said he feels “no sense of shame” over his country's economic record - but it now needs outside help. Brian Lenihan told broadcaster RTE the Republic had fought hard over the past two years for financial survival.

• Friday, November 19th 2010 - 04:50 UTC

  Museum suspends expedition to meet uncontacted tribes in the Paraguayan Chaco

  

  London's Natural History Museum has suspended a planned expedition to a remote region of Paraguay after protests that it might disturb one of the world's last uncontacted tribes.

• Thursday, November 18th 2010 - 21:48 UTC

  Russia plans to collect 33 billion USD in three year privatization plan

  

  The Russian government approved a three year (2011/2013) privatization plan paving the way for a sale of federal assets which could yield 1 trillion roubles (33 billion US dollars), Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina said in Moscow following a cabinet meeting.

• Thursday, November 18th 2010 - 20:53 UTC

  Alaska to Ushuaia in an electric car developed at the Imperial College London

  

  An electric sports car developed by European engineers has finished a remarkable 26.000 kilometres road trip on the Panamerican Highway, travelling from near the Arctic Circle in Alaska to the world's southernmost city, Ushuaia without a single blast of carbon dioxide emissions.

• Thursday, November 18th 2010 - 18:53 UTC

  EU unveils plans for a “greener” 60 billion Euro Common Agricultural Policy

  

  EU farm spending, worth almost 60 billion Euros annually, should no longer be based on previous subsidy levels for farmers, the European Commission has said. But subsidies are still needed to protect Europe's food supplies and rural diversity, it believes.

• Thursday, November 18th 2010 - 18:51 UTC

  UK banks’ exposure to Irish lenders above £ 139 billion

  

  Ireland's banking problems are likely to have a direct effect on the United Kingdom's battered institutions. According to the Bank of International Settlements, UK banks have a total exposure to Irish lenders of 222 billion US dollars (£139bn).

• Thursday, November 18th 2010 - 18:35 UTC

  Ireland’s dilemma: sovereign solvency or rescuing the banking system

  

  Emergency talks were being held in Dublin overnight as fears about Ireland’s ailing banking system forced the deployment of a team from the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.