
Headlines: Padgett reveals Budget, Deficit announced in line with amended Medium Term Financial Plan; Next of kin to fly in for inauguration;13 year-old supports local team; May Ball colour supplement.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is predicting global unemployment between 210 million and 239 million people in 2009 which represents a rate of 6.5% to 7.4%. Geneva based ILO made public Thursday its report on Tackling The Global Jobs Crisis in advance of the ILO annual conference, which begins June 3.

United States will host the next G20 summit of world leaders in September, the White House has confirmed. The meeting will take place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Thursday 24 September and Friday 25 September.

Differences between Brazil and Paraguay over the world’s largest operational hydroelectric dam, Itaipú, are a “political problem” and not an energy issue according to Marco Aurelio García, international affairs advisor to the Brazilian Executive.

In the coming weeks, Dr. Thomas A. Shannon, who protected a rational regional policy from the ideological knives of the Bush administration, will step down as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. By that time, President Obama’s pick for the job, Georgetown University Professor Arturo Valenzuela, will be confirmed by the Senate.

In the wake of recent tense incidents at sea off Gibraltar with Spain, police and military planners have revisited the operating procedures for marine crews patrolling British waters, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.

Two more British Members of Parliament have succumbed to intense pressure over their expenses by saying they will not seek re-election. Tory backbencher Julie Kirkbride said the situation had become unbearable as she followed husband Andrew MacKay in announcing her departure from parliament at the next general election.

Argentina accepted on Wednesday Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez' explanation about his comments on his administration’s nationalization plan that doesn't include Brazil's firms, and in a separate statement denied any “nationalization wave” was planned following June’s mid term election.

Education in Uruguay has “failed” and the composition of the electorate has “changed dramatically”, an ideal mix for “populist proposals” said economist Ernesto Talvi, head of the social and economics think tank Ceres based in Montevideo.

Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa was detained Wednesday for more than one hour at the Maiquetía international airport by immigration officials upon his arrival in Venezuela to take part in a Liberal forum of intellectuals hosted by a private organization opposed to the government of President Hugo Chávez.