G20 pledges to implement IMF reforms, fight protectionism (Night Lead)

LONDON - Finance ministers of the Group of 20 (G20) countries Saturday pledged to give India and other emerging economies a greater voice in the running of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other global financial institutions.

G20 expected to reach agreement on bank bonuses

LONDON - Finance ministers of the G-20 countries are expected to reach an agreement on bank bonuses, Britain’s Sky News reported Saturday.

BRIC nations demand greater say in global financial system (Roundup)

LONDON - India, China, Russia and Brazil have opposed protectionism, while demanding greater say in the global financial architecture and equitable voting rights for emerging economies in institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

BRIC nations demand greater say in global financial structure

LONDON - India, China, Russia and Brazil have opposed protectionism, while demanding a much greater say in the running of global financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

Gordon Brown warns G20 against stimulus rollback

LONDON - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers and central bankers Saturday against moving too hastily to roll back the $5-trillion fiscal stimulus plans governments launched to counter fallout from the recession.

PM congratulates trade ministers for Delhi ‘breakthrough’

NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday applauded the breakthrough reached at the mini-ministerial meeting here of some 40 members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) that would lead to resumption of talks to conclude the Doha round of negotiations.

Left-wing activists protest against WTO meet

NEW DELHI - Hundreds of left-wing activists protested against the ongoing ministerial meet of key World Trade Organization (WTO) member states aimed at breathing fresh life into the stalled global trade talks here today.

Canadian economy shrinks at slower 3.4 pct pace in 2Q, expands in month of June

TORONTO — The Canadian economy contracted at a 3.4 percent annual pace in the second quarter, an improvement from the first three months of the year, the government said Monday.

Indian envoys’ meet to focus on Pakistan, economic diplomacy

NEW DELHI - With India’s neighbourhood seething in turmoil and major multilateral summits in the offing, the external affairs ministry has called around 120 Indian envoys later this month for a conclave in New Delhi to brainstorm on key foreign policy challenges.

India to get $4.78 bn in SDRs to battle recession

WASHINGTON - India will get the equivalent of about $4.78 billion as its share of International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Special Drawing Rights (SDR) worth $250 billion to provide liquidity to the recession hit global economic system.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to visit the White House Sept. 16

TORONTO — Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will visit the White House next month to meet with President Barack Obama.

Squatters spark fury staging sex sessions on empty tower roof!

LONDON - A group of squatters in Britain are said to have sparked fury after they took over an empty tower block, and began staging sex sessions on its roof.

India looking forward to hosting September trade talks: Anand Sharma

NEW DELHI - Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said he was looking forward to hosting the September meeting among global trade ministers to put the derailed global trade talks back on track.

No James Bond: Varghese heads as Australia’s envoy to India

SYDNEY - Peter Joseph Noozhumurry Varghese used to head Australia’s spy agency, the Office of National Assessments. The mild-mannered but very articulate man of Indian origin, who will be Canberra’s next envoy to New Delhi, however does not see himself as a James Bond. He prefers to be called a diplomat.

India presses for anti-terror convention, to sign ASEAN FTA in October (Roundup)

PHUKET - At the meeting of foreign ministers of the ASEAN and East Asia region here Wednesday, India reminded the world of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the recent Jakarta bombings, as it pressed for greater intelligence sharing and an early adoption of a UN convention on international terrorism to defeat the scourge.

World Jewish Congress urges EU to be tougher with Iran

BRUSSELS - The president of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) here Thursday called on the European Union (EU) to take a harder line on Iran to prevent the country from acquiring nuclear weapons.

US Treasury Secretary Geithner sees ‘durable, very important signs’ of confidence, stability

PARIS — U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Thursday he saw “durable, very important signs” of recovery in the financial system — but he warned against repeating the mistakes of the 1930s and withdrawing stimulus too soon.

US Treasury Secretary Geithner discusses economic stimulus plans with French PM

PARIS — U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is discussing economic stimulus plans with French officials in talks that also touch on the question of sanction againt Iran.

Obama hopes for progress after Afghan elections

WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama expressed hope Tuesday that Afghanistan can enter a “different phase” after elections take place in August.

The world’s ‘G’ order - G5, G8, G14, G20

L’AQUILA - It can be termed as the new ‘G’ order of the world where the presence of nations proclaims their international political and economic status.

Climate remains an issue as G8-G5 agree on UN reforms (Roundup)

L’AQUILA - The outreach meeting of the G8, the grouping of the world’s most wealthy and industrialized countries, with the world’s emerging economies G5, Thursday outlined that various global crises required systemic and optimistic resolutions even though they failed to resolve their differences on the climate change controversy.

New push from rich, developing nations to global trade talks

L’AQUILA - The groups of rich and developing countries, including India, are likely to commit themselves to early conclusion of the Doha Development Round of multilateral trade talks under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) later Thursday.

Manmohan, Brown pledge to increase bilateral trade

L’AQUILA - India and Britain Wednesday discussed restructuring of global financial institutions to make them more suited to present-day international needs even as both countries pledged to take bilateral trade to the 10-billion pound mark by 2010.

G8 leaders take stock of economic recovery so far, seek to coordinate exit strategies

L’AQUILA, Italy — World leaders began arriving for their annual summit Wednesday to seek broad consensus on ways to boost the world economy, combat climate change and confront security threats from Iran to North Korea, even amid growing sentiment that their Group of Eight forum can no longer claim leadership on the global political and economic agenda.

Britain’s Foreign Office minister Mark Malloch Brown says he is resigning for family reasons

LONDON — Britain’s Foreign Office minister Mark Malloch Brown says he will resign at the end of the month for family and personal reasons.

Dollar’s future as reserve currency in focus as world leaders meet

LONDON — Investors will be keeping a close eye on how far world leaders will go in expressing support for a strong dollar at the Group of Eight summit in Italy, amid talk that the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency will be on the agenda.

Obama, Medvedev Agree to pursue Nuclear Arms Reduction talks

MOSCOW - Hailing a “fresh start” in relations, US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev reached basic agreement Monday that there must be a follow-up treaty to the START disarmament pact due to expire at the end of the year.

G5 launches website, presses for global reforms

NEW DELHI - Ahead of the G8 summit in Italy, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Monday launched the website of the outreach partners, an important step that underlines increasing congruence among G5 countries which share common positions on key global issues.

IMF to issue first-ever bonds

WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Wednesday it will issue bonds for the first time in its 60-year history in an effort to win contributions from emerging economies like China, Brazil and Russia.

UN chief says impact of economic crisis could last years, urges help for poor countries

UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned at a U.N. financial summit Wednesday that the impact of the global economic crisis could last for years with millions more families pushed into poverty, and he urged rich nations to mobilize the money to help hard-hit developing countries.