Forex / World news

BRUSSELS (Thomson Financial) - The European Commission considers it unrealistic to expect other G8 members to subscribe to the EU's ambitious proposals on climate change, but hopes they will move forward in addressing the issue with urgency at next week's G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany...

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that attempts to impose a "diktat" and "imperialism" in world affairs were dangerous and unhealthy.Problems have arisen because the world changed and there was an attempt to make it unipolar," Putin told reporters following talks with his Greek counterpart...

IGDIR, Turkey (Thomson Financial) - The environmental pressure group Greenpeace today urged world leaders to act swiftly against climate change, as it unveiled a model of the Biblical Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey to highlight the dangers of global warming...

TAIPEI (XFN-ASIA) - Taiwan is falling behind the other three "Asian dragons" in competitiveness, the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Taipei said and called for swift measures to boost the island's economy."Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea have shown that as mature economies they can still attract investment interest by building world-class infrastructure, cultivating human resources, upgrading regulatory regimes, and reforming tax policies," AmCham president Jane Hwang told reporters here...

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The UK's Office for National Statistics is to scale back a number of surveys used to compile key data, prompting quality concerns, as it struggles with a budget squeeze and its relocation from London to Newport, South Wales, the Financial Times reported...

NEW DELHI (XFN-ASIA) - India and the US began talks intended to wind up thorny issues delaying a civilian nuclear energy deal that will permit India to access long-denied Western nuclear technology, officials said.The chief US negotiator for the pact, US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, arrived in New Delhi today for two days of talks on an agreement on how civilian nuclear cooperation between the two will actually work...

POTSDAM, Germany (Thomson Financial) - Foreign ministers from the Group of Eight most industrialised nations said they were prepared to back "appropriate measures" if Iran failed to stop uranium enrichment."We deeply regret that Iran, as seen in the latest report by the director general of the IAEA to the UN Security Council, has further expanded its enrichment activities," they said in a statement, referring to the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency...

WASHINGTON (Thomson Financial) - US President George W Bush will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin July 1-2 at former president George Bush's compound in the northeastern state of Maine, the White House said.They will discuss the crisis over Iran's suspected nuclear programme, civilian cooperation on atomic programmes, and US plans -- fiercely opposed by Russia -- to deploy a missile defense system in Europe, said Bush spokesman Tony Snow...

POTSDAM, Germany (Thomson Financial) - Japan disagrees with the 2009 deadline for concluding negotiations on a post-Kyoto treaty, urged by the German presidency of the G8, a Japanese government spokesman said on the sidelines of the G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting...

MINSK (Thomson Financial) - The director of Belarus oil holding company Belneftekhim has been arrested for "theft and abuse of power", said chief prosecutor Petr Miklashevich."Alexander Borovsky is accused of theft and abuse of power," he told a press conference...

BERLIN (Thomson Financial) - The United States will call at the upcoming G8 summit for a new accord on climate change that binds only the countries that contribute most to the phenomenon, the German press said on Wednesday.Washington wants the new pact on the environment to be concluded by 2009, the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported, citing a US text to be tabled at the June 6-8 summit...

MOSCOW (Thomson Financial) - Russia is not considering an extradition swap with Britain of murder suspect Andrei Lugovoi for exiled oligarch Boris Berezovsky, Russia's prosecutor general said.Russia has long fought for the extradition of Berezovsky, who received political asylum in Britain in 2003, while Britain wants to try ex-KGB officer Lugovoi for the murder in London of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko...

BEIJING (XFN-ASIA) - A summary of Asian economic and corporate news at 1000 GMTJAPAN:-Japan April industrial output lower vs March on smaller auto output-Japan April auto production down 3.8 pct year-on-year-Bank of Japan's Fukui says appropriate East Asian forex regimes may change-Japan Airlines yet to decide on restructuring group affiliates-Rope to hike cable prices by more than 10 pct-Mitsubishi Heavy receives orders for wind turbines in USSOUTH KOREA:-SKorea April industrial output up 6...

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - The UK's Department of Health said it will give a 67 mln stg cash boost to 7,000 care homes for the elderly across England.The Department's care services Minister Ivan Lewis said the money will be used to replace worn out carpets and floor coverings, upgrade dining rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms and to improve gardens and outdoor areas...

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Demand for rented properties in the UK suffered its worst slowdown since for two years in the three months to April, a key survey showed.The latest lettings survey from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors showed demand being hit as rising numbers of homebuyers joined the property ladder, rents continued to rise, and jobs growth slowed...

HAMBURG, Germany (Thomson Financial) - China promised Tuesday to "do its best" on fighting climate change but rejected calls that Asia should sign up to binding targets on cutting carbon emissions.Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said China and other Asian nations cannot bear the same responsibility for restricting greenhouse gas emissions as the developed world...

BRUSSELS (Thomson Financial) - The European Commission will propose on Wednesday upgrading EU relations with Brazil to a strategic partnership, putting the Latin American country in a select club with China and the US, EU officials said.The aim is to boost cooperation on such issues as energy and the environment as well as improving coordination between the EU and Brazil within international organisations, officials at the EU's executive arm said...

HAMBURG, Germany (Thomson Financial) - European foreign ministers tried to forge a common approach with Asian nations to the Iranian and North Korean nuclear crises and the Darfur conflict ahead of next week's G8 summit.They agreed to issue a collective call to Iran to comply with United Nations demands to halt sensitive nuclear enrichment work, according to a declaration due to be issued at the close of the Asia-EU Meeting (ASEM) in Hamburg...

SHANGHAI (XFN-ASIA) - Shanghai officials have backtracked on state-media reports that plans to build a high-speed magnetic levitation train linking Shanghai and the eastern city of Hangzhou have been suspended due to health concerns.Zhang Qing, a spokeswoman of the Shanghai government, said there has been no notice of any suspension of the project...

PARIS (Thomson Financial) - The OECD said the economic outlook for the US looks favourable in the near term as business investment and exports replace household demand as the mainstay of activity but warned of key challenges ahead.Despite the upbeat forecast, the OECD warned of dangers from the correction in the US housing market...