International

• Monday, November 30th 2009 - 12:43 UTC

  United Arab Emirates promises extra liquidity to Dubai’s banks

  

  The central bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has said it will provide banks with extra liquidity. The news comes days after the state-owned Dubai World said it would ask for an extension on repaying its debts, sending world stock markets tumbling.

• Monday, November 30th 2009 - 12:37 UTC

  Lucky strike: Brazil supports England’s bid to host World Cup in 2018

  

  The world's most successful football country has delivered a fresh lifeline to England's under-fire bid to host the World Cup in 2018. Brazilian President Lula da Silva said the time was right for the tournament to come back to Britain for the first time since 1966.

• Monday, November 30th 2009 - 12:32 UTC

  China admits “controllable and gradual measures” rises in Yuan’s value

  

  Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Monday a stable Yuan is good for both China and Europe and reiterated Beijing's policy of allowing only gradual and manageable rises in the currency's value.

• Saturday, November 28th 2009 - 07:28 UTC

  Mercosur/EU trade talks to resume next Monday in Portugal

  

  Mercosur countries are preparing a meeting with European representatives on the sidelines of the Ibero-American summit this weekend in Portugal to confirm their “interest” in reactivating trade negotiations with the EU, according to Spanish diplomatic sources.

• Saturday, November 28th 2009 - 07:06 UTC

  Iraq invasion of “questionable legitimacy” but “inevitable”

  

  The invasion of Iraq was of “questionable legitimacy”, according to Britain's ambassador to the United Nations at the time. Sir Jeremy Greenstock told the official war inquiry he believed the military action was legal under international law, but it did not have majority backing in the UN.

• Saturday, November 28th 2009 - 06:02 UTC

  Brazilian banker says that Dubai effect is “alert signal” for market euphoria

  

  A possible debt default by a Dubai state-owned conglomerate is an “alert signal” to avoid market euphoria, Brazil central bank chief Henrique Meirelles said on Friday.

• Saturday, November 28th 2009 - 05:03 UTC

  China promises to continue playing a leading role in global recovery

  

  China will continue the proactive fiscal policy and moderately easy monetary policy next year, the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee agreed Friday, reports the official news agency Xinhua.

• Friday, November 27th 2009 - 11:25 UTC

  “South American Sails 2010” begins in Rio, February with calls in ten countries

  

  A dozen tall ships from the Americas and Europe will be participating next year in a regatta that will tour ten Latinamerican countries in the framework of the bicentennial celebrations, which marked the beginning of the end of Spanish colonial rule in the region.

• Friday, November 27th 2009 - 11:16 UTC

  Norway opens world’s first osmotic power plant prototype

  

  Norwegian renewable energy giant Statkraft has switched on the world's first osmotic power plant prototype - using a technology which produces electricity from a process which mixes fresh water and salty sea water.

• Friday, November 27th 2009 - 08:38 UTC

  IMF identifies four crucial challenges ahead for policymakers

  

  International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the global economy has made remarkable progress and now stands at the cusp of recovery, but it still remains highly vulnerable to shocks and policy missteps