International

• Saturday, April 25th 2009 - 10:26 UTC

  China poised to become the world’s second economy in 2010

  

  In spite of a considerable slowdown this year, China is poised to become in 2010 the world’s second largest economy, behind United States and ahead of Japan, according to the IMF World Economic Outlook released this week.

• Saturday, April 25th 2009 - 07:20 UTC

  UK economy shrinks 1.9% in the first quarter of 2009

  

  The UK economy shrank 1.9% in the first three months of 2009, according to gross domestic product (GDP) data from the Office for National Statistics. The contraction was much worse than had been expected and was the biggest three-month decline in GDP since the third quarter of 1979.

• Saturday, April 25th 2009 - 07:18 UTC

  Record unemployment in Spain: 17.36%, heading for 19.4%

  

  Spain's jobless rate rose sharply, to 17.36% in the first quarter of 2009 with more than 4 million people out of work, the government said Friday. Nearly half of the 4 million lost their jobs in the past year, the National Statistics Institute pointed out

• 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.