International

• Wednesday, March 16th 2011 - 14:38 UTC

  MEP warns on dangers to Scotland of ‘cheap meat’ imports from Mercosur

  

  European Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos has been warned of the dangers facing Scotland if the EU opens its markets to large quantities of ‘cheap meat’ imports from Mercosur, reports the Farmers’ Guardían.

• Wednesday, March 16th 2011 - 06:07 UTC

  Japan seems unable to control stricken nuclear plant; fears of radiation

  

  Workers were ordered to withdraw from a stricken Japanese nuclear power plant on Wednesday after radiation levels rose, Kyodo news reported, a development that suggested the crisis was spiralling out of control.

• Wednesday, March 16th 2011 - 05:58 UTC

  Gaddafi ever more confident he can defeat Benghazi ‘dogs and traitors’

  

  Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi appeared at a Tuesday evening rally in a huge tent in Tripoli, condemning the rebels as rats, dogs, hypocrites and traitors. As he spoke, thousands gathered in a Benghazi square denouncing him as a tyrant and throwing shoes and other objects at his image projected upside down on a wall.

• Wednesday, March 16th 2011 - 05:38 UTC

  Bahrain threatens to turn into a conflict between Sunni-rulers and Shi’ite majority

  

  Bahrain's king declared martial law as his government struggled to quell an uprising by the island's Shi'ite Muslim majority that has drawn in troops from fellow Sunni-ruled neighbour Saudi Arabia.

• Wednesday, March 16th 2011 - 03:59 UTC

  Uruguay recognizes Palestinian sovereign state and will open embassy in Ramallah

  

  Uruguay announced on Tuesday it had recognized a Palestinian state, becoming the latest in a string of Latin American countries to make an endorsement in recent months the United States has called premature.

• Wednesday, March 16th 2011 - 03:05 UTC

  Japanese stocks rebound; central bank injects 326 billion USD in three days

  

  Japanese stocks rebounded Wednesday as concerns over the long-term impact of Friday's earthquake and tsunami on Japan's economy ease.

• Wednesday, March 16th 2011 - 01:32 UTC

  ‘Frozen’ Japanese economy expected to rebound positively in third quarter

  

  Friday's earthquake and tsunami have left parts of Japan's economy “frozen”, but analysts forecast that it will bounce back later this year. Some of the country's leading producers, including the world's biggest carmaker, Toyota, have closed all of their plants in the country.

• Wednesday, March 16th 2011 - 01:23 UTC

  State elections behind Merkel’s decision to halt 7 of Germany’s 17 nuclear reactors

  

  German Chancellor Angela Merkel is backtracking on nuclear power as the atomic emergency in Japan becomes an issue in state-election campaigns. Merkel’s decision to halt seven of Germany’s 17 reactors includes two in Baden-Wuerttemberg, where her party is battling to retain its 59-year-hold on the state in a March 27 vote.

• Tuesday, March 15th 2011 - 23:49 UTC

  Mercosur claims EU is willing to continue negotiations, but requests more time

  

  Mercosur was prepared to listen to proposals on liberalizing trade, but the European Union requested more time and continue working with the negotiations, according to Mercosur delegates attending the trade talks with EU in Brussels.

• Tuesday, March 15th 2011 - 23:38 UTC

  EU chief negotiator admits ‘complications’ but confident of a trade accord with Mercosur

  

  A strongly worded resolution from Members of the European Parliament earlier this month outlining their concerns over agriculture does not represent a setback for EU-Mercosur trade talks, the EU chief negotiator said in Brussels.