International

• Tuesday, March 31st 2009 - 10:32 UTC

  Arab League, South America summit looks for political common ground

  

  Arab League and South American countries will open Tuesday their second summit with the purpose of boosting trade and cooperation. The idea of regular meetings between the 22 members of the Arab League and 12 South American countries was born in Brasilia in 2005, sponsored by Brazilian president Lula da Silva.

• Tuesday, March 31st 2009 - 09:46 UTC

  Spain rescues regional bank; financial stocks fall

  

  Spain's decision to rescue a regional savings bank has sent financial stocks in the country lower. The Bank of Spain is to take over Caja Castilla la Mancha in the first bank bail-out in Spain since the global financial crisis began. The government will also back the bank with 9 billion Euros in guarantees.

• Tuesday, March 31st 2009 - 08:56 UTC

  Qatar says “it’s OK” with crude at 50USD per barrel

  

  Qatar's oil minister said Monday he was “OK” with crude oil at 50 US dollars per barrel for this year, reflecting a measure of pragmatism by OPEC. However OPEC president forecasted that oil prices could reach 75USD by the end of the year.

• Tuesday, March 31st 2009 - 07:14 UTC

  PM Brown sets out the “five tests” for the G 20 world leaders

  

  UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has set out five tests which world leaders will face when they gather for the G20 summit in London on Thursday and urged them to “rise to the challenge” of beating the recession.

• Tuesday, March 31st 2009 - 06:52 UTC

  Indian Ocean dependency votes to become integral part of France

  

  Voters from Mayotte, a tiny island in the Indian Ocean, voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to become and integral part of France, the 101th “departement”. Authorities said 95.2% of those who voted (61% turnout) opted to strengthen ties with Paris which will also require the Muslim majority to abide by French law. Only 4.8% voted no.

• Monday, March 30th 2009 - 14:43 UTC

  UK dampens G-20 expectations and discards further stimulus option

  

  United Kingdom Chancellor Alistair Darling has moved to damp down expectations of a new budget stimulus for the global economy at the G20 summit in London, warning that all the world's problems would not “get sorted in one day”.

• Sunday, March 29th 2009 - 17:27 UTC

  60 Earth Hour: Thanks for the switch off!

  

  On behalf of everyone at WWF, we'd like to say a big, big THANK YOU to all who took part in Earth Hour 2009. Because of you it was the biggest Earth Hour ever. You were joined by millions of others in almost 4000 towns and cities across 88 countries. People who switched off their lights and demonstrated their concern at how our climate is changing. It was an amazing night. We couldn't have done it without you

• Sunday, March 29th 2009 - 16:56 UTC

  Brown/ Cristina agree they have differences of opinion on Falklands/Malvinas

  

  With a strong sense of dejà-vu ended the open agenda meeting Saturday morning between Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, which among other issues addressed the Argentine sovereignty claim over the Falklands/Malvinas.

• Sunday, March 29th 2009 - 16:16 UTC

  Lula da Silva blames US, UK and Spain for current crisis

  

  Brazilian President Lula da Silva on Saturday at the Progressive Governance summit in Chile told representatives of the United States, Britain and Spain they had a major responsibility for causing the global economic crisis.

• Saturday, March 28th 2009 - 15:55 UTC

  Chronicle of a foretold (“Malvinas”) Cristina/PM Brown meeting

  

  Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and British Primer Minister Gordon Brown are scheduled to hold on Saturday a bilateral meeting in Chile when the Falklands/Malvinas issue will be addressed, on Argentine initiative, but with no surprises or consequences.