Tuesday, March 31, 2009

03/31/09

* Netanyahu sworn in as Israeli PM Israel's parliament has sworn in Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister and approved the new right-leaning coalition cabinet by 69 votes to 45.

* Nicolas Sarkozy's threat to walk out of global summit President Sarkozy yesterday threatened to wreck the London summit if France’s demands for tougher financial regulation are not met.

* Russia, China cooperate on new currency proposals: Russia and China are coordinating proposals on a new global currency that could replace the US dollar as a reserve currency to prevent a repeat of the global economic crisis.

* Financial crisis dominates G-20 agenda This week's London Summit brings together the leaders of the world's 20 largest economic powers, known as the Group of 20.

* Gadhafi storms out of Arab summit in Qatar Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi stormed out of an Arab summit on Monday after denouncing the Saudi king for his long ties to the West.

* Obama team drops "war on terror" rhetoric U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday the Obama administration had dropped "war on terror" from its lexicon.

* Clinton doesn't rule out Iran talks at Afghanistan conference Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was coy Monday about whether she would meet Iranian delegates at an international conference on Afghanistan.

* Sudan leader thanks Arab summit for support Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir asked Arab leaders meeting in Qatar on Monday to strongly reject an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court for war crimes.

* Abbas to Arab summit: Israel chose settlement instead of peace "Our experience in the aftermath of the Annapolis conference has proven that Israel is still a ways off from abandoning its settlement policy and choosing the path of peace."

* NATO reaches out to online audience Four days ahead of its 60th anniversary summit in Strasbourg and Kehl, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has launched a web campaign aimed at raising awareness among young people.