International

Wednesday, August 20th 2008 - 21:00 UTC
Spain suffers worst air accident in 25 years: 153 killed

A Spanair MD-82 jetliner broke up and caught fire after skidding off the runway at Madrid's Barajas International airport, killing 153 people in Spain's worst aviation accident in 25 years.
Tuesday, August 19th 2008 - 21:00 UTC
China is considering stimulus package and soft monetary policy

China is considering a stimulus package spending anywhere between the equivalent of 29 and 58 billion US dollars to stimulate the economy and may ease monetary policy towards the end of the year, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Tuesday, August 19th 2008 - 21:00 UTC
Russian tycoon denies buying world's dearest villa

Russia's fifth richest man has denied reports originally from the French press that he has bought the world's most expensive home. (Nickel King) Mikhail Prokhorov worth about 22 billion US dollars said he was not the mystery buyer of the southern France property.

The Villa Leopolda in Villefranche-sur-Mer, on the CÃ'te d'Azur, sold for 496m euros ($730m; £392m).
Monday, August 18th 2008 - 21:00 UTC
BHP Billiton: record profits and upbeat about commodities

BHP Billiton Ltd. which is the world's largest mining company has reported a record annual net profit for the year ended June 30 of 15.39 billion US dollars, up 14.7% from the 13.42 billion of the previous year.
Monday, August 18th 2008 - 21:00 UTC
Falklands' war carrier, under Indian flag, returns to Atlantic

The Indian Navy only aircraft carrier, INS Viraat, the former Falkland Islands war veteran HMS Hermes and a flotilla of other men-o-war are scheduled to participate for the first time ever in war games with the British and French navies in the Atlantic Ocean early next year.
Monday, August 18th 2008 - 21:00 UTC
Greenpeace dumps boulders in North Sea to prevent trawling

Greenpeace has sailed into a mini-storm of annoyed marine biologists after dropping massive granite boulders into the North Sea in an attempt to disrupt fishing. Last week the ship the Beluga II began dropping the first of 150 granite rocks weighing 2 to 3 tonnes onto the seabed.
Monday, August 18th 2008 - 21:00 UTC
Who pays for port expansion to dock larger cruise vessels?

As the cruise industry keeps advancing and vessels become larger a controversy has erupted in Punta Arenas as to who should pick the bill for the expansion of port facilities both for docking and landing tourists.
Sunday, August 17th 2008 - 21:00 UTC
Japanese economy sliding downwards to recession

The Japanese economy contracted by 0.6% between April and June, prompting fears that it is sliding towards recession. Declining exports and consumer demand were behind the fall - the first for more than a year - which came after a rise of 0.8% in the previous quarter.
Sunday, August 17th 2008 - 21:00 UTC
“Fire-safe” cigarettes mandatory in the EU as of 2011

As of 2011 all cigarettes sold in the European Union will have to be self-extinguishing in a bid to combat thousands of fire-related deaths and injuries. EC officials said a meeting of experts from all 27 EU member states was expected to endorse proposals by Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kuneva.
Sunday, August 17th 2008 - 21:00 UTC
Russian tycoon pays 300 million Euros for French Riviera villa

Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov paid 300 million Euros for a villa in the French Riviera built in 1902, so grand that it takes a reputed 50 gardeners to tend its gardens, according to the Paris daily Le Monde.