International

• Monday, April 6th 2009 - 08:30 UTC

  Recession “worse than predicted” admits UK Chancellor Darling

  

  British Chancellor Alistair Darling admitted that he failed to foresee the severity of the recession and warned recovery was unlikely before the end of the year. He also warned that the deal struck by PM Gordon Brown and other world leaders at London's G20 summit last week would only be effective if countries stuck to their promises.

• Sunday, April 5th 2009 - 06:29 UTC

  Gibraltar converting from off-shore haven to regulated on shore finance centre

  

  The Gibraltar Government hopes to sign at least 12 tax agreements with countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD] by November this year. Completing that number of information exchange agreements would allow Gibraltar to enter the top category of countries regarded by the OECD as those which substantially meet international tax standards, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.

• Sunday, April 5th 2009 - 06:20 UTC

  In Brazilian school books Columbus arrived in America in 1942

  

  Christopher Columbus must be having nightmares: according to the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo latest edition of public school books, the Genoa navigator arrived to America in 1942, that is 67 years ago and not in 1492.

• Sunday, April 5th 2009 - 06:14 UTC

  Antarctica ice shelves melting faster than estimated

  

  Antarctica's ice shelves are melting more rapidly than previously known because of climate change, according to a new US Geological Survey report prepared in close collaboration with the British Antarctic Survey, the Scott Polar Research Institute and Germany's Bundesamt fűr Kartographie und Geodäsie.

• Saturday, April 4th 2009 - 11:06 UTC

  Lula da Silva proud to lend money to the IMF

  

  President Lula da Silva said he wants to be the first Brazilian leader whose administration will lend money to the International Monetary Fund. His comments were done following the G20 summit when it was agreed to supply the IMF with additional funding to the tune of 750 billion US dollars.

• Saturday, April 4th 2009 - 10:46 UTC

  Falklands’ fan among 350 chosen students to meet leaders at NATO summit

  

  President Barack Obama singled out a Bulgarian university student who published an article on the functioning of democracy in the Falkland Islands, to take part in a youth forum during the NATO summit in Strasbourg reports Sofia news agency, Novinite.com.

• Saturday, April 4th 2009 - 09:45 UTC

  Brazil and China discuss bilateral trade in Real and Yuan

  

  Brazilian President Lula da Silva said Friday that he supports alternatives to the dollar as the world's premier currency who anticipated the issue will be addressed when he visits China next month. Senior Chinese and Russian officials have talked in recent weeks about a new reserve currency to replace the dollar.

• Saturday, April 4th 2009 - 05:16 UTC

  Uruguay de-listed from group of non cooperative tax havens

  

  The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, (OECD) welcomed on Thursday the formal endorsement by Uruguay of its tax information exchange standards.

• Friday, April 3rd 2009 - 14:40 UTC

  OECD forecasts two digits unemployment in several countries by 2010

  

  Economic activity is expected to plummet by an average 4.3% in the OECD area in 2009 while by the end of 2010 unemployment rates in many countries will reach double figures for the first time since the early 1990s, according to the OECD’s Economic Outlook Interim Report

• Friday, April 3rd 2009 - 10:19 UTC

  Last minute agreement on tax havens completes G20 agenda

  

  As G20 negotiations on a new regulatory blueprint bogged down, President Barack Obama pulled French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chinese President Hu Jintao into a corner of a room in London’s Excel Centre, according to press reports from London.