The Falkland Islands Government has sent letters to the leaders of Australia and Brazil following the devastating floods the two countries have undergone recently.
Australian Foreign Secretary Kevin Rudd will be present at the two-day Mercosur summit which begins Thursday in Foz de Iguazu. Rudd met on Wednesday with his Brazilian peer Celso Amorim ahead of the summit and in the framework of the “Australia-Brazil Dialogue” created last September.
Australia and India have both raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point amid fears of rising inflation. The central bank of Australia put up rates from 4.5% to 4.75%, surprising markets with the first rise since May.
Australia should drop its ties to the British monarchy when the Queen’s reign ends, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said this week in the midst of national election campaigning.
Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais SA, Brazil’s second-largest steelmaker, agreed to sell a stake in its mining and railroad businesses to Sumitomo Corp. for 1.93 billion US dollars before a possible share offering in the unit.
Australia's central bank has raised interest rates for the sixth time in eight months as the country's economy continues to recover. The target interest rate is now at 4.5%—up from 3% in October last year.
Australian Fisheries Minister Norman Moore embraced the aquaculture potential of Western Australia with the opening of a cutting edge-design commercial brine shrimp farm at Port Gregory, near Geraldton.
Work in Japan and Australia has revealed that a deep-ocean current is carrying frigid water rapidly northward from Antarctica along the edge of a giant underwater plateau.