International

• Saturday, December 12th 2009 - 15:22 UTC

  Australia threatens Japan with international legal action over whaling

  

  Australia has threatened international legal action after the new Japanese Government declared there would be no change to its stance on whaling. Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said in Tokyo that he saw no need for a review of the Government's policy, disappointing those who thought it might break with the past.

• Saturday, December 12th 2009 - 15:11 UTC

  Arctic climate change forcing Eskimos to build deep freezers to store game

  

  Inuit communities (Eskimos) need funds to adapt to climate change in the Arctic, including measures to build communal deep freezers to store game because warming is reducing their hunting season, an Inuit leader said on Friday.

• Saturday, December 12th 2009 - 09:21 UTC

  Drastic budget cuts anticipated for UK Ministry of Defence

  

  The British Ministry of Defence is facing hundreds of millions of pounds in cuts - including the closure of at least one RAF base - as it struggles to balance its books, it was reported.

• Saturday, December 12th 2009 - 07:45 UTC

  US warns Latinamerica ing about “flirting” with the Iran regime

  

  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Friday urged Latin American countries to “think twice” about establishing links with Iran, which she said is the world's leading promoter and exporter of terrorism. Clinton also expressed concern about democratically-elected leaders in Latin America who later move to undermine democratic institutions.

• Friday, December 11th 2009 - 17:34 UTC

  FAO report predicts “an ocean of change” for fishers and fish farmers

  

  Marine capture fisheries already facing multiple challenges due to overfishing, habitat loss and weak management are poorly positioned to cope with new problems stemming from climate change, a new FAO study suggests.

• Friday, December 11th 2009 - 07:54 UTC

  S&P downgrades Spain’s credit outlook to negative from stable

  

  Spain has had its credit outlook cut to negative from stable by the ratings agency Standard & Poor's. The agency said Spain faced a deeper deterioration in public finances and a longer period of economic weakness than it had previously expected.

• Friday, December 11th 2009 - 07:47 UTC

  Bank of England leaves rates and QE program unchanged

  

  The Bank of England has held UK interest rates at the record low of 0.5% in a widely-expected move. It also announced no changes to its program of pumping newly-created money into the economy - so-called quantitative easing (QE).

• Friday, December 11th 2009 - 07:44 UTC

  UK Chancellor warned about spending cuts and budget deficit targets

  

  United Kingdom Chancellor Alistair Darling was warned he must find £36 billion in new spending cuts if the British Government is to meet its commitment to halve the budget deficit over the next four years.

• Friday, December 11th 2009 - 07:42 UTC

  Weak dollar helps US October exports rise 2.6%, highest level in almost a year

  

  The United States trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed in October as exports rose to their highest level in almost a year, official figures have shown. The deficit fell to 32.9 billion US dollars, 7.6% lower than September's downwardly revised 35.7 billion

• Friday, December 11th 2009 - 04:11 UTC

  President Obama defended the concept of “just war” at Peace Nobel ceremony

  

  President Barack Obama defended the concept of a just war as he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway on Thursday. The US leader acknowledged he was a controversial recipient, not least because he is the commander-in-chief of a nation fighting two conflicts overseas.