International

• Saturday, May 2nd 2009 - 09:57 UTC

  Gurkha veterans fighting for better treatment from UK government

  

  Jubilant former Gurkhas living in Swindon, some of them Falklands veterans have welcomed the surprise news that their former colleagues could be given equal right of residence to live in the United Kingdom. Mahendra Rai, from Liden, who saw action in the Falkland Islands with the 7th Gurkha Rifles including the bitter battle at Goose Green, was among the veterans at Westminster on Tuesday who witnessed the Government’s defeat on the issue in the House of Commons.

• Saturday, May 2nd 2009 - 09:55 UTC

  Panama Canal announces four-month rates reduction period

  

  Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has announced a temporary plan that will provide short-term cost reduction and greater flexibility to its Reservation System. The temporary measures, designed to help mitigate the impact of the economic crisis on the Canal's clients, were approved by the ACP Board of Directors earlier in the week, said spokesmen.

• Friday, May 1st 2009 - 06:26 UTC

  WHO says current influenza is identified as A/H1N1

  

  As of Thursday April 30 the new influenza will be referred to as A/H1N1 said the World Health Organization in a brief announcement. The statement follows on World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) clarification of facts from the animal health perspective, particularly in relation to international trade of pigs and of products of pig origin.

• Friday, May 1st 2009 - 06:22 UTC

  OIE strongly counsels against the culling of pigs

  

  The OIE (Epizooties International Organization) strongly counsels against the culling of pigs in the current situation with A/H1N1 influenza that started in North America, reports the organization from Paris.

• Friday, May 1st 2009 - 00:31 UTC

  Regional Andalusia airline begins Gibraltar-Madrid airbridge

  

  Gibraltar expressed confidence that Andalus Lineas Aereas, the regional airline that resumes flights from the Rock to the Spanish capital Madrid as from Thursday morning, “is here to stay and will have a long term presence in Gibraltar”, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 23:33 UTC

  Europe’s unemployment highest in three years: 20 million jobless

  

  Europe’s unemployment rate rose to the highest in more than three years with 20 million jobless in March and inflation held at a record low, increasing pressure on the European Central Bank to take steps to tackle the worst recession in half a century.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 23:29 UTC

  End of UK military presence in Iraq; Tories call for Franks’ report on the war

  

  A ceremony has been held in Basra Thursday to mark the official end of the six-year British military presence in Iraq, reports BBC. UK combat operations ended as 20 Armoured Brigade took part in a flag-lowering ceremony with a US brigade.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 23:26 UTC

  Egypt begins mass slaughter of pork population

  

  Egypt has begun a mass slaughter of thousands of pigs in an effort to prevent swine flu spreading. The cull was going ahead despite there being no cases of swine flu in Egypt. However, neighbouring Israel has two confirmed cases in humans.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 12:05 UTC

  Morales lobbies for Cuba and describes himself as partly “Marxist-Leninist”

  

  Bolivia’s president Evo Morales defined himself as “Marxist-Leninist” in an interview with the Argentine newspaper Clarín in which he rejects the continued exclusion of Cuba from the Organization of American States, OAS dating back to 1962.

• Thursday, April 30th 2009 - 07:58 UTC

  “US Swine flu severity no worse than seasonal flu” says expert

  

  As of April 29, 91 people in the United States had confirmed cases, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The first US death occurred on April 27, when a two-year-old child succumbed to swine flu after travelling from Mexico to Houston for treatment.