International

• Friday, May 22nd 2009 - 01:50 UTC

  UK could loose its premium credit ratings because of soaring debt

  

  The United Kingdom’s premium credit rating is under threat without action to tackle soaring debt, a leading ratings agency has said. Standard & Poor's has warned that debt could rise to 100% of output by 2013, which could lead to the UK losing its coveted 'AAA' status.

• Friday, May 22nd 2009 - 01:42 UTC

  Steady culling of British MPs over expenses scandal practices

  

  British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been forced to defend two more of his Cabinet ministers as the expenses scandal showed little sign of abating. He insisted there was “no problem” with financial arrangements that meant Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon and Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell did not pay capital gains tax on second homes.

• Friday, May 22nd 2009 - 01:38 UTC

  End to an injustice: Gurkhas win right to settle in Britain

  

  The British government finally relented on settlement rights for the Gurkha veterans, the elite soldiers who for over two hundred years have served in the British Army, bravely fighting all over the world including the Falklands conflict of 1982.

• Thursday, May 21st 2009 - 11:37 UTC

  Global steel output down by 23.6% in April

  

  Global steel output fell by 23.6% in April to 89-million tons, the World Steel Association said on Wednesday.

• Thursday, May 21st 2009 - 10:51 UTC

  Investors flock to gold fearing inflation and financial uncertainty

  

  Fears of future inflation and ongoing financial uncertainty saw investors continue to flock to gold in the first quarter of 2009, with volumes up 38% in the first three months of the year. Total demand for gold in the first quarter rose to 1,016 tonnes, representing a 36% rise in value terms to 29.7 billion US dollars, with demand from Exchange Traded Funds and demand for gold and coins driving the rising demand, suggesting that buyers were buying for investment purposes.

• Thursday, May 21st 2009 - 10:37 UTC

  British Tories insist on an immediate general election

  

  British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has rejected calls by Conservative leader David Cameron for an immediate General Election and warned that planned Tory spending cuts would lead to “chaos”.

• Wednesday, May 20th 2009 - 14:37 UTC

  Worst of global crisis over, but early recovery unlikely, says Krugman

  

  Nobel Prize laureate Paul Krugman said Tuesday in Korea the worst phase of the global economic crisis is over but massive lingering debts make any early recovery unlikely.
  “I share the optimism that the worst is maybe over” said Krugman in a speech to an international finance forum in Seoul.

• Wednesday, May 20th 2009 - 07:32 UTC

  European cruise industry cautiously optimistic

  

  The cruise industry in Europe will grow in 2009, but at a slower pace than in the past three years due to the economic crisis, the European Cruise Council (ECC) predicts, reports Travel Weekly.co.uk.

• Wednesday, May 20th 2009 - 03:21 UTC

  Influenza vaccine manufacturers committed to supply poor countries

  

  World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Dr Margaret Chan and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met on Tuesday with over 30 vaccine manufacturers from developing and developed countries at WHO headquarters in Geneva.

• Wednesday, May 20th 2009 - 02:42 UTC

  UK annual consumer inflation down to 2.3% in April

  

  The British annual consumer prices inflation was 2.3% in the year to April, down from 2.9% in the year to March, falling closer to the 2% target set by the government which most commentators had been expecting as utility bills were cut to reflect falling oil prices.