International

• Saturday, April 11th 2009 - 08:28 UTC

  Pope’s Good Friday special prayer for survivors of earthquake

  

  Pope Benedict reflected on the tragedies and disasters that test faith during a Good Friday procession in Rome, just hours after Italians buried victims of the country's devastating earthquake.

• Friday, April 10th 2009 - 20:08 UTC

  Italy: Day of mourning for quake victims

  

  Grieving relatives collapsed over flower-draped caskets of the victims of Italy's worst earthquake in three decades as the nation joined in a day of mourning.

• Friday, April 10th 2009 - 08:59 UTC

  Japan announces third stimulus plan …and more if needed

  

  Japan announced Thursday a record 150 billion US dollars stimulus package as it seeks to revive its flagging economy. Prime Minister Taro Aso announced the package, worth about 3% of its gross domestic product, in Tokyo after the ruling party approved the measures.

• Friday, April 10th 2009 - 06:11 UTC

  UK top cop quits over security blunder; G-20 policeman suspended

  

  Britain's top counter-terrorism officer has resigned after his security blunder threatened a major anti-terror operation. London Mayor Boris Johnson said he had accepted Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick's resignation with “great reluctance and sadness”.

• Friday, April 10th 2009 - 05:58 UTC

  Bank of England leaves rates unchanged, opts for money injection

  

  The Bank of England kept interest rates on hold at 0.5%, in a widely expected move following a number of rate cuts in recent months. Rates remain at an all-time low after six cuts since October last year, when interest rates stood at 5%.

• Friday, April 10th 2009 - 05:57 UTC

  Spanish Easter shoppers double Gibraltar population

  

  Gibraltar’s population was practically doubled as an avalanche of Spanish shoppers poured in through the frontier gates on Tuesday to take advantage of the price bargains resulting from the strength of the Euro in relation to Sterling, reports the Chronicle

• Thursday, April 9th 2009 - 21:20 UTC

  EC to announce new strategy to revive fish farming industry

  

  The European Commission is expected to unveil this week a new strategy to revive the fish farming industry. At a time when stocks of some species of fish in the world's oceans are dangerously low, the authorities in Brussels are concerned that Europe's aquaculture sector has stagnated.

• Thursday, April 9th 2009 - 12:28 UTC

  UK “considering approach” to Falklands’ continental shelf and May deadline

  

  The United Kingdom has no doubts about its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, or its right to make a submission to extend the continental shelf under the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea, but it is considering its approach in view of the May 2009 deadline.

• Thursday, April 9th 2009 - 09:29 UTC

  Opposition accuse PM Brown of “full retreat” in fiscal stimulus measures

  

  British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been accused of being in “full retreat” over his recession-fighting strategy amid signs that any further fiscal stimulus measures would be severely limited by worsening economic conditions.

• Thursday, April 9th 2009 - 08:40 UTC

  Chinese steel industry insists with 40% cut in iron ore prices

  

  China's steel group insisted this week with a cut of at least 40% in annual term iron ore prices after a news report said Rio Tinto Ltd is offering a smaller discount before new annual contract negotiation ends, according to reports in the Chinese press. “Our request hasn't changed,” said Shan Shanghua, secretary general of the China Iron and Steel Association.