International

• Wednesday, December 16th 2009 - 07:33 UTC

  Climate Change: We Are All In The Same Boat

  

  Global warming does not respect borders; a mindset shift is required if world leaders are to save us from ourselves
  By Kofi Annan

• Wednesday, December 16th 2009 - 05:48 UTC

  Spain tops “misery index” that combines unemployment rate and budget deficit

  

  Spain tops a new “misery index” that combines unemployment rates with budget deficits, according to forecasts from Moody’s Investors Service. Ireland appears in fourth place on the sovereign-risk outlook for 2010, behind Spain, Latvia and Lithuania.

• Wednesday, December 16th 2009 - 05:34 UTC

  UK cuts defence programs to fund new equipment for Afghanistan

  

  British Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth announced Tuesday a package of cutbacks in core defence programmes to fund £900 million of new equipment for troops in Afghanistan over the next three years.

• Wednesday, December 16th 2009 - 05:29 UTC

  UK November inflation rose to 1.9%, pushed by fuel prices

  

  Higher petrol prices in the United Kingdom pushed inflation upward for the second month in a row in November, official figures have revealed. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose to 1.9% last month from 1.5% in October, said the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

• Wednesday, December 16th 2009 - 05:26 UTC

  Poland delays adoption of the Euro until 2015

  

  Poland's adoption of the Euro in 2015 is very realistic and more likely than in 2014, but it isn't a target date, Deputy Finance Minister Ludwik Kotecki told reporters.

• Tuesday, December 15th 2009 - 10:56 UTC

  Japan extends grant to Uruguay for solar power development

  

  Japan is extending Uruguay a grant of 8.5 million US dollars to finance a solar power project, according to official Japanese sources. Japan’s Foreign Affairs minister Katsuya Okada and his Uruguayan counterpart Pedro Vaz signed the document Monday.

• Tuesday, December 15th 2009 - 10:21 UTC

  Employment and industrial production in Euro-zone confirm shrinking tendency

  

  Employment in the Euro-zone shrank during the third quarter and October industrial production also contracted 0.6% on a month-on-month basis, according to the latest release from Eurostat, the European Community Statistics Office.

• Tuesday, December 15th 2009 - 08:05 UTC

  Exxon-Mobil buys Texas gas producer for 41 billion US dollars

  

  US oil giant Exxon Mobil is buying natural gas producer XTO Energy in a deal worth 41 billion US dollars. XTO Energy, based in Texas, is an on-shore natural gas producer. The deal includes 10 billion of debt from XTO.

• Tuesday, December 15th 2009 - 07:49 UTC

  FAO calls to limit trade of Atlantic Bluefin tuna and several shark species

  

  An advisory panel of independent experts convened by FAO has issued recommendations regarding six proposals to limit international trade in a number of commercially exploited aquatic animals under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

• Monday, December 14th 2009 - 13:19 UTC

  London could be pushed into third place by Shanghai as financial centre

  

  London could be pushed into third place as a global financial centre by Shanghai in the next decade, according to a report.