International

• Wednesday, October 14th 2009 - 03:54 UTC

  British MPs repayments expenses conflict: a political or legal question?

  

  British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Tory leader David Cameron are battling to contain the growing anger among MPs across Parliament faced with demands to repay thousands of pounds in expenses.

• Wednesday, October 14th 2009 - 03:49 UTC

  UK September’s weaker inflation surprises and triggers doubts about recovery

  

  Inflation in Britain has sunk faster than expected to hit a five-year low last month, official figures showed. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) for September stood at 1.1% - down from August's 1.6% - as hikes in household energy bills in 2008 compared with unchanged bills for the same month this year.

• Wednesday, October 14th 2009 - 03:47 UTC

  Mini-reshuffle in Foreign Office cabinet

  

  A mini-reshuffle in the British cabinet or simply “housekeeping”, according to PM Brown’s spokesperson, has switched Baroness Kinnock from her post as Europe Minister, --just four months into the job--, to be replaced by Welsh MP Chris Bryant, who nevertheless remains as a junior member in the department.

• Tuesday, October 13th 2009 - 11:10 UTC

  Abu Dhabi one of many buyers of Santander Brazil IPO

  

  Publicly listed Abu Dhabi fund Aabar Investments PJSC which is the biggest shareholder in Daimler AG, invested 328 million US dollars in Banco Santander (Brasil) SA by buying shares in its initial public offering.

• Tuesday, October 13th 2009 - 06:58 UTC

  British PM Brown has agreed to repay £ 12.000 in expenses

  

  British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has agreed to repay more than £12,000 in expenses after an inquiry found he made excessive claims for cleaning, gardening and decoration at his second home.

• Tuesday, October 13th 2009 - 06:56 UTC

  The 2009 Nobel Prizes round winners includes five women

  

  With economists Elinor Ostrom and Oliver E. Williamson the round of 2009 Nobel Prizes comes to an end. Of the thirteen, five are women with a first in Economics.

• Tuesday, October 13th 2009 - 04:16 UTC

  Most developing countries workers did not benefit form global trade boom

  

  The boom in global trade over the last two decades has failed to improve the quality of most jobs in poorer countries, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and United Nations labour agency (ILO) said on Monday.

• Tuesday, October 13th 2009 - 04:10 UTC

  FAO: Food commodities prices forecasted to remain high and volatile

  

  Food commodities prices are likely to stay high and volatile in the medium term, while a repeat of the 2007-2008 price spikes is seen as a realistic possibility, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said on Monday. Between 2006 and 2008, international prices for basic food commodities shot up by 60% while grain prices doubled.

• Tuesday, October 13th 2009 - 04:06 UTC

  Freshwater ecosystems the most threatened

  

  Mismanagement and growing needs for water are causing freshwater ecosystems to collapse, making freshwater species the most threatened on Earth with extinction rates 4 to 6 times higher than their terrestrial and marine cousins, say scientists at the Diversitas 2nd Open Science Conference, in Cape Town, South Africa.

• Monday, October 12th 2009 - 10:47 UTC

  General Motors record sales in China’s booming car market

  

  General Motors and affiliate companies in China sold almost 1.3 million cars in the first nine months of 2009, with September a record month, according to a release from the main offices in Detroit.