Politics

• Wednesday, March 17th 2010 - 06:09 UTC

  First Russian head of state visit to Argentina next month

  

  Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will travel to Argentina on April 14 and 15, the first official visit by a Russian head of state in 125 years of bilateral relations, the Argentine Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

• Wednesday, March 17th 2010 - 06:05 UTC

  Chinese savers consider current inflation as “unacceptable”

  

  More than one in two Chinese savers regard the current inflation rate as unacceptable, according to a central bank survey that is likely to fan official concern about deteriorating inflation expectations.

• Tuesday, March 16th 2010 - 21:56 UTC

  Briton is recognized as world's first officially genderless person

  

  A British expat who claims to have no gender is thought to have become the first person to be officially recognized as neither male nor female.

• Tuesday, March 16th 2010 - 21:43 UTC

  Falklands MLAs with greater responsibilities and busy overseas agenda

  

  It is proving a busy overseas season for the Falkland Islands Members of the Legislative Assembly with a full agenda of political and administrative contacts in London, reports Gilbert House, Office of the Legislative Assembly.

• Tuesday, March 16th 2010 - 21:41 UTC

  Fed leaves rates unchanged in context of moderate growth and unemployment

  

  The United States Federal Reserve left its key interest rate near 0% once again Tuesday and said rates should stay this low for the foreseeable future. In its release the Federal Open Market Committee, FOMC, policymakers repeated their prediction that economic conditions are likely to result in “exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period”.

• Tuesday, March 16th 2010 - 16:37 UTC

  Chile per capita expenditure on defence, the highest of Latinamerica

  

  Chile is the second largest weapons importer in the Americas and the 11th largest in the world, a recent study has shown. Chile’s defence budget nearly doubled between 1997 and 2007, the study carried out by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said.

• Tuesday, March 16th 2010 - 05:16 UTC

  Lula da Silva calls for Palestinian state during official visit to Israel

  

  Brazilian President Lula da Silva kicked off a Middle East trip in Jerusalem by saying he wants to promote regional peace, after expressing concerns last week that Israel may attack Iran over its nuclear program.

• Tuesday, March 16th 2010 - 05:13 UTC

  EC calls on Britain to further cut the budget deficit: “not ambitious enough”

  

  The European Commission will call on Britain to do more to cut the budget deficit, according to a draft document. The EU executive is also expected to say the UK's medium term plans are not ambitious enough. The report will see the light just weeks before a general election is expected to be announced.

• Tuesday, March 16th 2010 - 05:10 UTC

  Europe agrees to help Greece but loan guarantees have been ruled out

  

  Europe's finance ministers agreed Monday how to help Greece in its battle to control its finances. After a meeting in Brussels, they revealed few details, except that they had ruled out any loan guarantees.

• Tuesday, March 16th 2010 - 05:06 UTC

  Mercosur/Israel free trade agreement becomes effective April

  

  Brazil expects a new free trade agreement with Israel to swell bilateral trade to more than 3 billion US dollars within five years, officials said on Monday. Trade between Israel and Brazil slipped below 1 billion USD in 2009 from a peak of 1.6 billion USD in 2008 -- 1.2 billion USD of which were Israeli exports -- due to the global economic crisis.