International

• Monday, May 18th 2009 - 08:37 UTC

  Crucial WHO assembly to decide on A/H1N1 flu vaccine production

  

  The spread of swine flu and possible vaccine production dominate the agenda of the World Health Organization assembly which begins Monday in Geneva until May 22.

• Sunday, May 17th 2009 - 12:51 UTC

  Labour voters support equals that of UK Independent Party, 17%

  

  The ruling Labour slumped to be neck and neck with the United Kingdom Independence Party in a poll as voters looked set to punish mainstream parties over the expenses scandal at the ballot box next month.

• Sunday, May 17th 2009 - 12:45 UTC

  UK to complain Spanish Navy incursion in Gibraltar’s territorial waters

  

  Britain will formally complain to Spain about the recent incursion by a Spanish Navy patrol boat into Gibraltar's territorial waters. The fisheries protection vessel 'Tarifa' entered British waters and deployed a small speedboat to carry out checks on Spanish fishermen off the east side of the Rock, reports The Gibraltar Chronicle.

• Saturday, May 16th 2009 - 13:15 UTC

  Euro zone first quarter contraction of 2.5% surprises economists

  

  The economies of the 16 countries of the Euro zone experienced its worst quarterly drop in GDP in the first three months of the year, shedding 2.5% according to a release from the EU statistics agency Eurostat.

• Saturday, May 16th 2009 - 13:10 UTC

  British voters want snap election; Labour support down to 22%

  

  Almost two in three British voters believe a general election should be called as soon as possible amid mounting public anger about Member of Parliaments' taxpayer-funded expense claims, a poll has revealed.

• Friday, May 15th 2009 - 11:31 UTC

  Record contraction of the Spanish economy

  

  The Spanish economy slid deeper into recession in the first quarter of this year, official data showed on Thursday revealing that output shrank by 1.8% from the level in the previous quarter. On an annualized basis the contraction was a record 2.9%, the steepest in half a century.

• Friday, May 15th 2009 - 11:12 UTC

  Booing incident gets the sack for Spain’s state television sports editor

  

  Spain's state television sacked its head of sports coverage on Thursday, saying it was a mistake not to have shown a soccer crowd from Catalonia and the Basque Country booing the Spanish national anthem during the country's Copa del Rey final.

• Friday, May 15th 2009 - 09:23 UTC

  British MPs expenses scandal claims first scalps

  

  British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has suspended ex-minister Elliot Morley from the Parliamentary Labour Party and an aide to Tory leader David Cameron quit his post as the Westminster expenses scandal claimed its first scalps.

• Thursday, May 14th 2009 - 09:57 UTC

  The Economist sceptical about the crisis having bottomed out

  

  The end of the economic crisis and the return to the growth path are still distant according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, EIU, which predicts the global economy will contract 1.8% in 2009.

• Thursday, May 14th 2009 - 08:20 UTC

  Coral Triangle in risk of disappearance says WWF

  

  If the world does not take effective action on climate change, coral reefs will disappear from the Coral Triangle by the end of the century, the ability of the region’s coastal environments to feed people will decline by 80%, and the livelihoods of around 100 million people will have been lost or severely impacted, warns WWF.