INTERNATIONAL BRIEFING
INTERNATIONAL BRIEFING
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RUSSIA
In Azerbaijan, Energy Discussed
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, below, visited Baku, Azerbaijan, reaching for control over supply routes to Europe for Caspian energy resources. The visit was part of the Kremlin's efforts to strengthen its dominance over energy supplies from the Caspian and Central Asia region, which is thought to contain the world's third-largest energy reserves.
Alexei Miller, chairman of Russian state natural gas monopoly Gazprom, accompanied Medvedev to discuss prospective purchases of Azerbaijani gas. He said both countries agreed to start talks on terms for Gazprom's purchase of gas from Azerbaijan.
France to Add a Nuclear Reactor
France will build a second new-generation nuclear reactor, President Nicolas Sarkozy said, pledging a "new industrial revolution" for an era in which fossil fuels have grown too expensive.
Construction will begin in 2011, and France expects the first reactor will be completed in 2012. The new type of reactor is meant to replace decades-old power plants around the world.
Biofuels Pushed in Food Crisis
Europe and the United States must reconsider their biofuel policies because of rising food prices around tthe world, said aid officials and food policy experts at an international conference on food supplies in Brussels.
Many also warned that some countries' restrictions on agricultural exports were severely hindering access to food and called for more investment to increase food production in the developing world.
EUROPEAN UNION
Credit Agency Competition Urged
European regulators are calling for more competition among credit rating agencies as they prepare ways to fix one of the problems behind the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis, E.U. Financial Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said.
McCreevy said the three major U.S.-based rating agencies -- Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investors Service and Fitch Ratings -- had "significantly contributed" to market turmoil by underestimating the risk of complex investments. Compiled from reports by Washington Post staff writers, Associated Press and Bloomberg.
