
Brazil is prepared to support the International Monetary Fund, IMF, with ten billion US dollars, --5% of its international reserves--, with the purpose of boosting its position in the multilateral financial organizations, --votes and veto power--, in the framework of what was decided last week at the G20 summit in London.

Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and visiting Chilean counterpart Michelle Bachelet said during a meeting at the Kremlin that they were committed to bolster their countries bilateral ties in different areas, including trade and defence cooperation. Both leaders signed a joint declaration and two cooperation accords in culture and defence.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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