International

• Thursday, December 17th 2009 - 05:04 UTC

  How Copenhagen will affect international security

  

  The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen has been billed as 'the most important gathering in human history'. Without binding commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stabilise expectations, climate change will have a huge impact on future security considerations.
  By Duncan Depledge for RUSI.org (*)

• Wednesday, December 16th 2009 - 23:33 UTC

  Leading case: EU Court ruling supports non disclosure of press sources

  

  Judges at the European Court of Human Rights said that four British newspapers and a news agency were right to defy a court order to disclose documents that would have identified the source of a story about a multimillion pound City takeover in 2001.

• Wednesday, December 16th 2009 - 23:25 UTC

  UK record: one in five working age people economically inactive

  

  Youth unemployment in the United Kingdom has reached a record high as the jobless total nudged 2.5 million, the worst total since the mid-1990s. The number of 16 to 24-year-olds out of work was 952,000 in the three months to October, a quarterly rise of 6,000 and the highest figure since records began in 1992.

• Wednesday, December 16th 2009 - 23:09 UTC

  EU fishing fleets agree to cut catches of cod, haddock and sole

  

  The EU says European fishing fleets will have to cut their catches of cod, haddock and sole next year, but a ban on anchovy fishing has been lifted. The quota for cod fishing is being cut by 15-35%, depending on the area. But there is an exemption for cod fishing in West Scotland and the Celtic Sea.

• Wednesday, December 16th 2009 - 07:38 UTC

  Moody’s warns about deterioration of sovereign triple-A ratings

  

  Sovereign debt risk is rising globally, particularly in the United States and United Kingdom, which must outline plans to manage public debt or face ratings deterioration as soon as 2011, Moody's global head of sovereign ratings said this week.

• 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.