Nobel Economics laureate Edgard Prescott and Joseph Stiglitz warned Monday of a “lost decade” and a worsening of the global financial crisis in the short term during a forum in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The “lost decade” reference is to the stagnation of the economy as happened with Japan during the nineties.
The global economy has stopped its steep slide and is on the verge of making the long, slow climb back toward stability, said European Central Bank President Jean Claude Trichet who chaired on Monday a meeting of the world's leading central bankers.
Moves to make a peace deal between pro and anti-whaling nations have stalled, with no chance of agreement. Countries have been talking for nearly a year in an attempt to hammer out an accord by this year's International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting. But a draft report seen by BBC News admits the process has fallen short.
Britain’s House of Commons authorities are to try to bring forward the publication of MPs' expenses receipts from the planned date of mid-July. The Commons Commission, which oversees MPs' affairs, rejected calls for immediate release of the details but said they would be published as quickly as possible.
The Leader of the Gibraltar Opposition Joe Bossano will be away for a week in order to participate in the annual regional seminar organised by the United Nations special committee on decolonisation, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.
The United Kingdom made on Tuesday 11 May 2009, its submission in respect of its extended continental shelf around the Falkland Islands, and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague visited Gibraltar with a clear message for the people of Gibraltar from David Cameron, the Conservative leader: “A Conservative government will always cherish the relationship with Gibraltar and will have nothing to do whatsoever with any shared sovereignty deal over Gibraltar”, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.
At the end of last week, the World Health Organization said it had no immediate plans to raise the pandemic alert to level 6 from 5, though the agency continues to closely monitor the spread of the virus.
Bad debts at part-nationalised UK Royal Bank of Scotland could soar to almost £12 billion this year, the bank has said. RBS, which is 70.3% owned by the British taxpayer, posted loans losses of £2.9 billion for the first quarter of 2009, but directors said full-year bad debts could be at least four times as high.
Canadian officials in the province of Alberta culled 500 hogs from the pig farm where the new swine flu virus, A/H1N1, was detected, but it was not because the animals were sick, the province’s chief veterinarian said Saturday.