
The pace of the ratification of a global pact outlawing cluster bombs must be accelerated to relegate the deadly weapons “to the pages of history,” Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said Wednesday.

The boss of US insurer AIG has called the bonuses paid to executives distasteful and said he asked some recipients to return at least half. But Edward Liddy said the Federal Reserve knew in November of the 165 million US dollars bonus payments to executives that have caused such a furore in US.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has expressed personal regret for every person who loses their job - as unemployment surged above the two million mark for the first time in 12 years.

ARGENTINE war veterans visiting the Falkland Islands have been treated with, “…respect and kindness,” by Islanders, Marcelo Gustavo Sanchez of Centro de Veteranos de Guerra de Lujan, told Mercopress.

Huge bonuses paid out by ailing insurer AIG will be deducted from the firm's next bail-out payment, the US treasury secretary says. In a letter to congressmen, Timothy Geithner said 165 million US dollars would be taken from 30 billion the firm is due to get as part of its government bail-out.

President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced Tuesday she will send Congress a bill to re-nationalize the Military Aircraft Manufacturing Centre, a defence contractor currently controlled by US Lockheed Martin Corp.

India and Chile reaffirmed their support for a comprehensive reform of the United Nations including expansion of the Security Council to make the world body more representative, legitimate and effective.

The US economist and Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman said Tuesday that Europe and the United States should at least double their fiscal efforts in order to salvage the global economy.

The International Monetary Fund expects the global economy to contract 0.6% this year, according to forecasts provided on Tuesday by an IMF official in Lisbon.

THE Princess Royal will take the opportunity to meet Falklands War veterans when she visits the islands this month. She will, however, begin her visit to the Falklands and South Georgia with the unveiling of a plaque to open the extension to the Royal Falkland Islands Police Station.