International

• Tuesday, August 10th 2010 - 01:00 UTC

  Giant 260 sq km iceberg breaks off in northern Greenland

  

  A 260 square kilometre iceberg has broken free from the Petermann Glacier, one of the two largest remaining glaciers in Greenland.

• Tuesday, August 10th 2010 - 00:54 UTC

  World Bank pouring 11 billion to build 211 dams with impact on tribal people

  

  To mark the UN Day of Indigenous People, Survival International has released a new report highlighting the devastating impact on tribal people of a massive boom in dam-building for hydropower.

• Tuesday, August 10th 2010 - 00:51 UTC

  UN urges greater protection of the world’s indigenous communities

  

  Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the world to step up efforts to improve living conditions of the planet’s indigenous communities and to protect them, saying they continued to suffer discrimination and poverty despite a United Nations declaration that aims to promote their rights.

• Monday, August 9th 2010 - 07:26 UTC

  Gibraltar: Between a Rock and a hard place

  

  La Linea de la Conception is a small Spanish town on the North side of the border with Gibraltar. The fascist dictator Francisco Franco sealed the frontier in 1969 to punish Gibraltar for rejecting his offer of becoming part of Spain.

• Friday, August 6th 2010 - 22:13 UTC

  UK minister Browne at inauguration of Colombian president-elect Santos

  

  UK Minister Jeremy Browne is visiting Colombia and Chile to boost British business. Minister Jeremy Browne arrived in Bogotá Friday on the first leg of a visit to South America. He will spend three days in Colombia before travelling to Chile.

• Friday, August 6th 2010 - 06:03 UTC

  Euro zone benchmark rate unchanged, but ECB needs to absorb extra liquidity

  

  European Central Bank President Jean Claude Trichet said Europe is recovering faster than forecast and money markets are improving, paving the way for the ECB to phase out liquidity tools used to fight the financial crisis.

• Friday, August 6th 2010 - 06:01 UTC

  Bank of England leaves rate on hold at 0.5%; concerns over recovery strength

  

  The Bank of England has voted to keep interest rates on hold at 0.5% amid concerns over the strength of the economic recovery. The decision by the bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) means rates will stay at their current record low for an 18th month. It suggests the committee does not see high inflation as a serious concern.

• Friday, August 6th 2010 - 03:01 UTC

  Wheat futures soar as drought-stricken Russia halts grain exports

  

  Wheat futures soared on Thursday after the world’s number three exporter the Russian Federation said it would temporarily halt grain shipments. The worst drought on record have devastated crops in parts of Russia and caused international grain prices to spike as markets anticipate a drop in global supplies.

• Thursday, August 5th 2010 - 16:11 UTC

  Japan rice stockpiles to reach the highest in eight years in 2011

  

  Japan’s food rice stockpiles may reach the highest level in eight years at the end of June 2011, leading to a price drop and planting curbs by growers next year. Private and government inventories are forecast to climb 2.5% to 3.24 million metric tons from 3.16 million tons a year earlier, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said in a report Wednesday.

• Wednesday, August 4th 2010 - 21:57 UTC

  Santander takes over 318 branches from Royal Bank of Scotland

  

  Royal Bank of Scotland has agreed to sell 318 branches to Santander for a premium of £350 million on the assets' value. The sale includes 311 RBS-branded branches in England and Wales, and seven NatWest branches in Scotland.