International

• 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.

• Thursday, December 10th 2009 - 11:42 UTC

  Global food prices on the rise four months running, cautions FAO

  

  Global food prices are on the ascent again with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Food Price Index – a food basket composed of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar – registering four straight monthly rises.

• Thursday, December 10th 2009 - 11:28 UTC

  FOGL trying to tempt Chilean companies to join Falklands’ oil exploration

  

  Senior executives from Falkland Oil and Gas Limited (FOGL), which operates in the Falkland Islands, where it just announced the existence of significant oil reserves tempted Chile's State Oil Company (ENAP) into entering the business to help them explore and develop a 49,000 square meter basin in the South Atlantic.

• Thursday, December 10th 2009 - 07:28 UTC

  Outbreak of Q-fever in Netherlands forces massive culling of goats and sheep

  

  An estimated 15 to 20,000 goats and sheep in the Netherlands are to be slaughtered in connection with Q-fever. Dutch Ministers of Health Ab Klink and Agriculture Gerda Verburg have agreed that on infected farms where animals have not been vaccinated, all pregnant animals must be slaughtered, whether or not they have the virus.

• Thursday, December 10th 2009 - 06:56 UTC

  Giant 140 sq. km iceberg sighted approaching Australia

  

  A giant 140 square kilometres iceberg was spotted 1.700 kilometres south-southwest of Australia and creeping towards the island continent. The frozen mass, 19km long and 8km wide, is already far closer to Australia than icebergs normally travel.