International

• Monday, February 8th 2010 - 02:00 UTC

  Former IMF economist has UK in the same bag as Greece, Portugal and Spain

  

  Britain should be seen in the same category of countries as Greece, Portugal and Spain, who are facing severe debt problems, a leading economist has said. Ex-IMF chief economist Simon Johnson, also described the G7 group of leading economies as “fundamentally useless”.

• Monday, February 8th 2010 - 01:58 UTC

  Bank of England to continue buying corporate bonds but with Treasury bills

  

  The Bank of England will continue to buy up corporate bonds despite calling a halt to its Quantitative Easing programme, it has emerged. George Trefgarne from the Centre for Policy Studies highlighted the development in an interview with Sky's Jeff Randall Live programme.

• Saturday, February 6th 2010 - 01:58 UTC

  Falklands say oil development is to ensure sustainable economic future

  

  The Falkland Islands government said that hydrocarbons exploration is an important element to achieve a sustainable economic future for the Islands and quoted from British PM Gordon Brown New Year message when he said that there are “no doubts about UK sovereignty over the Falklands ” and the principle of self determination.

• Saturday, February 6th 2010 - 01:54 UTC

  Recession plunges record number of people into insolvency in 2009

  

  Britain's longest- and deepest-ever recession plunged a record number of people into insolvency last year, new figures show. A total of 134,142 people went bankrupt or took out an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) or Debt Relief Order during the year, according to the Insolvency Service.

• Saturday, February 6th 2010 - 01:45 UTC

  Spain’s economy contacted 3.6% in 2009, the most in decades

  

  First the bad news: Spain's economy contracted by 3.6% in 2009, the most in decades, as domestic demand plummeted according to a Bank of Spain estimate that was in line with government forecasts.

• Friday, February 5th 2010 - 02:39 UTC

  World markets collapse on fears of Euro zone debt problems

  

  Concerns about the US economy and the potential spread of debt problems in the Euro zone (Greece, Portugal and Spain) have led to large falls in world stock markets. US and key European markets lost more than 2% while those in Spain and Portugal fell by more than 5%.

• Thursday, February 4th 2010 - 23:21 UTC

  Trichet forecasts Euro zone recovery at moderate path but with bumps

  

  The euro zone economy will continue to grow at a moderate pace but with bumps on its path to recovery, European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet said on Thursday.

• Thursday, February 4th 2010 - 18:09 UTC

  Closer ties with France and other allies in UK’s forces future

  

  The British Armed Services will have to rely more on France and other international allies as they face “tough choices” in the coming years, said UK Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth on the launching of Government Green Paper that will pave the way for a full-scale strategic defence review after the General Election.

• Thursday, February 4th 2010 - 17:36 UTC

  Bank of England leaves rates unchanged but pauses pumping liquidity

  

  The Bank of England decided Thursday against further quantitative easing (QE), the policy designed to stimulate growth in the UK economy. Under QE, the Bank has pumped new money into the economy by buying assets such as government bonds, as a way to boost lending by commercial banks.
  Last week, it revealed it had spent all of the £200 billion put aside for QE.

• Thursday, February 4th 2010 - 17:25 UTC

  UK readies for a major Strategic Defence review debate

  

  A Green Paper posing fundamental questions for the future of the United Kingdom’s defence has been published Wednesday by the MoD, paving the way for a post-election (May) Strategic Defence Review (SDR).