26 August 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: All Africa

This week’s launch by British Prime Minister Tony Blair of an Africa Progress Panel to oversee the Group of Eight’s (G-8’s) pledges to Africa is a welcome move, but it is certain to raise more than a few eyebrows.

The G-8 industrialised nations’ earlier reputation for being less than committed to assisting African countries started to shift last year. This came after pledges made at the summit of the G-8 in Gleneagles, Scotland, around trade, aid and debt relief were followed by positive steps. In his speech, Blair pointed to some of these, including the doubling of aid funds by G-8 countries, writing off more debts in favour of several African countries, and supporting an AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria fund. By next month, a G-8 plan for debt cancellation worth $50bn for 18 of the poorest African countries is due to be implemented. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Development

25 August 2007
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• Source: Dow Jones International News

BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday she will discuss ways to combat human rights violations in Sudan’s Darfur region when she visits China on the first leg of a trip to Asia starting this weekend.

Merkel, whose country currently chairs the Group of Eight, sets off Sunday on her visit to China and Japan, which also is meant to deepen economic ties and further the German leader’s drive for action to fight global warming. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Democratization and Human Rights

23 August 2007
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• Source: Voice of America

The State Department Thursday rejected comments by Austria’s defense minister that the U.S. missile defense system planned for central Europe is unnecessary and amounts to a Cold War-style provocation. U.S. officials say the system, to be based in Poland and the Czech Republic, is intended to counter a potential missile threat from Iran. VOA’s David Gollust reports from the State Department.

The State Department is vigorously defending the anti-missile plan in the face of comments by Austrian Defense Minister Norbert Darabos that the program makes no sense, and will only re-ignite Cold War debates in Europe. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under East-West Relations and Russia, East-West Relations: Central and Eastern Europe, Regional Security

23 August 2007
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• Author: Seana K. Magee and Toyohiro Horikoshi
• Source: Kyodo News

NEW YORK - Japan, which hosts the Group of Eight summit in 2008, should be in a lead position to bridge differences between countries in attempts to reach a broad agreement on climate change, the top climate official at the United Nations said Thursday.

‘’I think that G-8 presidency represents an important opportunity to reach agreement within the G-8 on that long term goal and to hopefully, also within the G-8 framework, define the intermediate steps that need to be taken,'’ Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, told Kyodo News in a telephone interview from his office in Germany. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Climate Change

23 August 2007
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• Author: Madeline Chambers
• Source: Reuters News

BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will push for tougher global action against climate change on a tour of China and Japan next week which will also have business interests high on the agenda, officials said on Thursday.

The visit will be Merkel’s second to China as Chancellor and her first to Japan and comes four months before world environment ministers meet in Bali, Indonesia to try to launch new talks to extend the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under The Environment, Climate Change

23 August 2007
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• Author: Anne Penketh and Colin Brown
• Source: The Independent

Gordon Brown ruled out a referendum on the revised EU treaty last night as four trade unions which bankroll the Labour Party backed Conservative demands for a vote.

“The proper way to discuss this is through detailed discussion in the House of Commons,” Mr Brown told reporters after his first meeting as Prime Minister with the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. “I believe Parliament will pass this legislation.” (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Other

23 August 2007
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• Author: Saliou Samb
• Source: Reuters News

CONAKRY - Guinea will start talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency on a nuclear energy programme after the discovery of uranium this month, becoming the latest African state seeking a nuclear solution to power shortages.

The poor West African nation announced at the start of August that Australian miner Murchison United had discovered commercially viable deposits of uranium at a jungle site at Firawa, some 600 km (370 miles) east of the capital. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Other, The Environment, Energy and Nuclear Safety

22 August 2007
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• Source: Reuters News

LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel announced on Wednesday a global health campaign to target aid more effectively at the basic needs of poor countries.

The International Health Partnership, to be officially launched on Sept. 5, aims to reduce child and maternal mortality and tackle diseases such as HIV/AIDS by building long-term health infrastructures in developing countries. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Development, Health and Infectious Disease

22 August 2007
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• Source: Trend News Agency (Azerbaijan)

Russia, the United States and Azerbaijan will begin consultations on the Gabala radar station in Baku in early September, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mamedyarov told reporters in Baku on Tuesday.

“We are now discussing all details to define what further steps will be taken,” Mamedyarov was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying, adding that the level and concrete date of talks has to be determined. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under East-West Relations and Russia, Regional Security

22 August 2007
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• Author: Mike Peacock
• Source: Birmingham Post

Finance chiefs from the world’s three biggest economies tried yesterday to keep a lid on credit jitters - but US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson admitted that global financial turmoil would take time to play out.

Japanese Finance Minister Koji Omi and Mr Paulson agreed to keep a close eye on markets while German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said there was little sign of the wider economy suffering. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Global Financial Crises, Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy

22 August 2007
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• Author: Miriam Elder
• Source: The Moscow Times

The world’s largest gas company has a problem.

It’s not that reserves from old fields are dwindling as production from new ones stagnates. Nor is it a series of damaging disputes with neighboring countries that has called into question Russia’s ability to send steady supplies to Europe.

Gazprom’s main problem, it would seem, is PR.

“We don’t get enough objective press,” said Sergei Kupriyanov, Gazprom’s chief spokesman.

To that end, the state-run gas monopoly has hired a new trio of international PR firms in a bid to soothe its image in the Western countries where it is increasingly hoping to do business. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Other, East-West Relations and Russia

21 August 2007
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• Source: Agence Europe

Brussels, 20/08/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 20 august the spokesperson for the Commissioner for economic and monetary affairs stated, “We are closely and attentively following developments on the financial markets since we note turbulence”. She noted that the markets appeared to be returning to normality and said that it was too early to tell what the impact of the storm that had recently shaken up international financial markets would be. She said that this would depend on whether this turbulence continued. The crisis has its origins in the difficulties experienced by US financial establishments specialising in the provision of subprime mortgages, which led to a loss of investor confidence, particularly banks worldwide. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Global Financial Crises, Financial Supervision, Corporate and Public Governance, Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy

20 August 2007
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• Source: Agence France Presse

The leaders of Canada, the United States and Mexico are expected to meet Monday at this log cabin resort, near Ottawa, for a two-day summit to bolster trilateral trade and security.

But, local demonstrations and a deadly hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico already threaten to derail the talks, aimed at unifying trade rules and security following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Multilateral Trade, Regional Security

20 August 2007
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• Source: Xinhua News Agency

JOHANNESBURG - A high-level conference aimed at providing Africa with greater access to information and communication technology (ICT) will be held in Kigali, Rwanda, in late October, the United Nations said on Monday.

The Connect Africa Summit scheduled from October 29-30 aims to mobilize the human, technical and financial resources needed to close the major gaps in Africa’s ICT infrastructure, including broadband, the UN’s South African office said in a statement. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under The New Electronic Economy and Information Technology, Development

20 August 2007
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• Source: Kyodo News

NEW DELHI - India is interested in working with Japan on global warming, a senior official said Monday.

Ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s three-day state visit to India from Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shanker Menon told reporters India wants to work together ‘’and evolve a framework which can be discussed at a multilateral level, particularly at the United Nations.'’ (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Climate Change, Energy and Nuclear Safety

20 August 2007
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• Author: Natasha Brereton
• Source: Dow Jones International News

LONDON - The Bank of England is less likely to raise its key Bank rate in the near future following turbulence in world financial markets, and fewer economists now believe that a hike is on the cards before the end of the year.

The central bank has increased its policy rate five times since August 2006, to 5.75% from 4.5%, and the BOE’s quarterly Inflation Report, released Aug. 8, led many observers to believe the Bank rate would soon rise to 6.0%. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy

20 August 2007
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• Source: Dow Jones International News

LONDON - Prime Minister Gordon Brown will hold talks Wednesday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and then take her to watch her country’s soccer clash with England, U.K. officials said Monday.

The leaders will attend the exhibition game at London’s Wembley stadium - likely to be hotly contested between the two soccer rivals - after discussions focussing on development and trade, officials said. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Climate Change

20 August 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: The Daily Telegraph

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for a crack down on hedge funds and rating agencies following the latest ructions on world stock markets. “In the case of hedge funds, we need to know where the capital comes from and how high the credit risks are. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Global Financial Crises

20 August 2007
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• Source: Thai News Service

The baht has dropped to 34.69 to the US dollar, its weakest in one month, since foreign investors continued to sell off Thai stocks and bring the money out of the country, according to a money dealer

The dealer of Kasikornbank said the baht had further depreciated to stay in a range of 34.67-34.68 to the dollar in the morning trading session compared with 34.50 to the dollar in Thursday’s trading. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Global Financial Crises, Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy

17 August 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Agence France Presse

TOKYO - The Group of Seven industrialised nations have begun discussing measures to cope with plunging stock markets and wild foreign exchange fluctuations caused by US credit turmoil, a press report said Friday.

Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States are considering an emergency meeting of their finance ministers and central bankers to try to help stabilise the markets, Japan’s Jiji Press said. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Global Financial Crises, Exchange Rate Management and Monetary Policy

17 August 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: The Wall Street Journal Europe

PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged the world’s economic powers to keep better track of global financial markets, as investors continue to fret over a widening credit crunch.

Mr. Sarkozy’s comments, in a letter sent to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, copied to other leaders of the Group of Seven leading nations and made public by the French president’s office, underscored concern that the credit-market troubles could crimp economic growth. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Global Financial Crises

16 August 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Jiji Press English News Service

PARIS - French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde indicated Thursday that finance ministers of the Group of Seven industrial nations may hold an emergency meeting to cope with ongoing global financial market turmoils. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Global Financial Crises

16 August 2007
For Personal Use Only

• Source: Dow Jones International News

PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy Thursday urged the Group of Seven leading industrial countries to investigate the role of rating agencies in identifying risks that would lead to financial market crises.

In a letter to the G7 president, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, released by the French president’s office, Sarkozy added that the G7 needs to consider systems that would signal the onset of a crisis. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Global Financial Crises

15 August 2007
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• Source: Vaccine Weekly

Only a quarter of the $1.5 billion donated by G8 leaders to eradicate disease among poor children will be spent on the costs of vaccines, while three-quarters will go to profits. G8 should instead negotiate the lowest, sustainable, non-profit price in order to maximize the number of lives saved and children who can benefit. These are the conclusions of a Comment published in The Lancet. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Health and Infectious Disease

12 August 2007
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• Source: Kyodo News

TOKYO - Officials of Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office and Japan’s National Police Agency met Monday in Tokyo and agreed to cooperate over the security of the Group of Eight summit to be held in July next year at the Lake Toya hot-spa resort area in Hokkaido, NPA officials said. (more…)

Filed by Egor Ouzikov under Other