International

• Saturday, April 25th 2009 - 07:12 UTC

  Campaigners call new UK migration rules for Ghurka soldiers a “betrayal”

  

  Campaigners for Gurkha soldiers who want to settle in Britain have branded new rules on who could stay a “betrayal”. Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said the changes would allow around 4.300 more former Gurkhas to settle in the country out of the 36,000 who served in the British Army before July 1997.

• Friday, April 24th 2009 - 10:21 UTC

  Earth like planet, Exoplanet E, discovered by Chile Observatory

  

  The lightest and most earth-like planet ever discovered outside our solar system was identified this week using data from Chile’s La Silla observatory, said the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO).

• Friday, April 24th 2009 - 04:51 UTC

  EC determined to radical fisheries reform and lower catch capacity

  

  The European Commission (EC) has raised the issue of radically reforming the European Union (EU) Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) to Member States, in favour of an important reduction of the fishing capacity, among other points.

• Friday, April 24th 2009 - 03:43 UTC

  Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs could be out of jail next July

  

  Britain’s Great Train robber Ronnie Biggs is facing an anxious wait to learn if he will be freed from jail after his parole hearing adjourned Thursday without a result. A spokesman for the Parole Board said a decision was likely by July this year, when Biggs becomes eligible for release after serving a third of his sentence.

• Thursday, April 23rd 2009 - 13:33 UTC

  Coming battle to reform IMF and World Bank decision making process

  

  This week-end, ministers of finance and central bankers will meet with officials of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington to address the reform of the two global financial institutions, which were created by the United States and its allies to fund and guide economic development after World War II.

• Thursday, April 23rd 2009 - 10:32 UTC

  Japan’s first annual trade deficit in 28 years

  

  Japan has reported its first annual trade deficit in 28 years, with exports in the year to March down 16% from the previous year. Total exports in February and March were half of what they had been a year earlier, the finance ministry said.

• Wednesday, April 22nd 2009 - 12:26 UTC

  Credit crunch losses in the range of 4 trillion USD warns IMF

  

  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned credit crunch losses could reach 4 trillion US dollars, damaging the financial system for years to come. It further warns that even if urgent action is taken to clean up the banking system, the process will be “slow and painful”, delaying economic recovery. Banks may need 1.7 trillion in additional capital, the IMF forecasts.

• Wednesday, April 22nd 2009 - 12:17 UTC

  Water levels in the world’s main rivers is declining, say meteorologists

  

  Water levels in some of the world's most important rivers have declined significantly over the past 50 years, US researchers say. They say the reduced flows are linked to climate change and will have a major impact as the human population grows.

• Wednesday, April 22nd 2009 - 02:00 UTC

  British government set to cut MPs “second home allowance”

  

  The controversial second home allowance for British members of Parliament could be axed within days after Prime Minister Gordon Brown demanded an urgent Commons vote on reforms.

• Wednesday, April 22nd 2009 - 00:42 UTC

  Spain calls on EU partners for greater interest in Latinamerica

  

  Spain’s Foreign Affairs minister Miguel Angel Moratinos has called on other members of the European Union to follow the example of United States and leave aside the lack of interest on having an intense relation with Latinamerica.