New Delhi - Representatives of the Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, who returned to India on Thursday after a week's visit to China, said they had presented a memorandum to the Chinese leadership on "genuine autonomy."
The main purpose of the trip was to follow up discussions held in July, Kasur Lodi Gyari, who led the delegation, said in a statement.
He said the delegation had briefed Samdhong Rimpoche, prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile.
Reykjavik - Iceland's central bank on Thursday said it would keep its key interest rate at 18 per cent, after raising the rates at the end of October.
Inflation at the end of October hit almost 16 per cent, and could climb to 20 per cent early next year, the central bank said in its monetary bulletin that also projected that GDP would drop by over 8 per cent in 2009.
Stabilizing the Icelandic currency would bring down inflation and rates the bank said, adding that extending current wage agreements without further wage hikes was a factor.
The central bank, or Sedlabanki, raised interest rates from 12 to 18 per cent on October 28. In mid-October it had cut the rates from 15.5 per cent to 12 per cent.
London - The Bank of England Thursday slashed interest rates by a hefty one-and-a-half percentage points to 3 per cent in its most dramatic effort yet to soften the impact of a looming recession.
The shock cut decided by the bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MCP) followed calls from business leaders for a significant reduction in the key lending rate, but the maximum cut expected had been one percentage point.
Analysts said the decision underlined that as inflationary fears were receding, the risk of deflation was now emerging as a key threat.
Pretoria - Animal rights activists and a renowned conservationist on Thursday slammed the sale by South Africa of 51 tonnes of ivory, calling four recent auctions of tusks to Asian buyers "irresponsible" and a "disservice to conservation."
Brussels- The Polish government must sell off two shipyards which were the cradle of the anti-Communist Solidarity movement in order to claim back hundreds of millions of euros in illegal state aid, the European Union's executive ruled Thursday.
"State aid granted to the shipyards in Gdynia and Szczecin gives rise to disproportionate distortions of competition ... in breach of EC Treaty state aid rules, and must be repaid ," EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes told journalists in Brussels.
New Delhi - Representatives of the Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, who returned to India on Thursday after a week's visit to China, said they had presented a memorandum to the Chinese leadership on "genuine autonomy."
Madrid - Real Madrid winger Arjen Robben will be out of action for around six weeks, the Spanish champions said Thursday.
London - The Bank of England Thursday slashed interest rates by a hefty one-and-a-half percentage points to 3 per cent in its most dramatic effort yet to soften the impact of a looming recession.
Pretoria - Animal rights activists and a renowned conservationist on Thursday slammed the sale by South Africa of 51 tonnes of ivory, calling four recent auctions of tusks to Asian buyers "irresponsible" and a "disservice to conservation."
Brussels- The Polish government must sell off two shipyards which were the cradle of the anti-Communist Solidarity movement in order to claim back hundreds of millions of euros in illegal state aid, the European Union's executive ruled Thursday.
