IMF approves $2.1bn Iceland loan

IMF approves $2.1bn Iceland loan
<img src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45183000/jpg/_45183544_iceland226b.jpg” align=”left” width=”226″ height=”170″ alt=”A bank customer holds a handful of Icelandic crowns” border=”0″ vspace=”4″ hspace=”4″>

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a $2.1bn (£1.4bn) loan for Iceland, after the country’s banking system collapsed in October.

The two-year loan was designed to help the country cope with what the IMF described as “a banking crisis of extraordinary proportions”.

The loan aimed to help the country “to restore confidence and stabilise the economy”, the IMF said in a statement.

Iceland is the first Western European nation to get an IMF loan since 1976.

The two-year loan, which is subject to quarterly review, allows the country to withdraw about$827m now, and the rest in eight instalments of some $155m.

Iceland’s government had expressed frustration last week at delays in the loan’s approval.

Contracting economy

Iceland was forced to take over three of its biggest, debt-laden banks last month.

The Nordic nation’s troubles have had severe repercussions elsewhere in Europe.

In the UK, individual savers and local councils have been unable to access funds deposited in Icelandic banks.

Iceland’s currency, the krona, has almost halved in value this year and banking transactions with other countries have almost completely frozen.

The IMF has warned the country’s economy could contract by as much as 10% next year.

Iceland has said the IMF funds will be used to stabilise its currency, reintroduce a flexible interest rate regime and to overhaul its financial regulation system, especially insolvency laws.

Before going to the IMF, it had been in talks with Russia for a $4bn loan, but discussions broke down

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Miliband holds meeting in Lebanon

Miliband holds meeting in Lebanon
<img src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45219000/jpg/_45219207_milibandlebanon_afp226b.jpg” align=”left” width=”226″ height=”170″ alt=”UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Lebanese foreign minister Fawzi Salloukh” border=”0″ vspace=”4″ hspace=”4″>

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has held talks with his Lebanese counterpart Fawzi Salloukh over the future of the Middle East.

Arriving in Beirut, Mr Miliband said it was “time to push for a comprehensive resolution” to the region’s troubles.

On Wednesday, he is due to hold talks Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Fuad Saniora.

Earlier, he met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus – the first British politician to do so since 2001.

Speaking afterwards at a joint news conference, Mr Miliband said Syria could play a “constructive role” in bringing stability to the Middle East.

Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Mua’allim said that Iran also had an important contribution to make.

“We believe that good ties with Iran will help the bring security and stability to the region,” he said.

Mr Miliband told reporters gathered at Beirut’s international airport that the UK was “very committed” to the “vision of a peaceful Middle East”.

“Now is the time to push for a comprehensive resolution,” he said.

The foreign secretary also announced that Lebanon’s president would visit the UK next spring.

Earlier in his tour, Mr Miliband travelled to Israel and the West Bank, holding meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. <P

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Jerry Yang to quit as Yahoo boss

Jerry Yang to quit as Yahoo boss
Maggie Shiels
Technology reporter, BBC News, Silicon Valley

<img src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45215000/jpg/_45215556_6654d3ee-e44e-4f19-bee3-fa520276a964.jpg” align=”left” width=”226″ height=”170″ alt=”Jerry Yang” border=”0″ vspace=”4″ hspace=”4″>

Jerry Yang, the co-founder of Yahoo, is to stand down as the internet portal’s chief executive officer.

His departure follows lengthy criticism of his stewardship of the company, which has seen its share price collapse to about $10.

Earlier in the year he fought off a hostile takeover bid from Microsoft which offered $33 a share.

Mr Yang also told the workforce that he would be participating in the search for his successor.

“I will always do what is right for this great company,” Mr Yang wrote in an e-mail to employees.

The BBC was told that Mr Yang made the decision to leave as chief executive officer last month. No names were given as to who will succeed him.

The company, based in Sunnyvale, California, said it is interviewing candidates inside and outside Yahoo in a search led by chairman Roy Bostock.

“Jerry and the board have had an ongoing dialogue about succession timing, and we all agree that now is the right time to make the transition to a new CEO who can take the company to the next level,” said Mr Bostock.

low shares

Earlier this month at the recent Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco, Mr Yang surprised the industry when he told conference attendees that Microsoft should still buy the company.

“I don’t think it’s a bad idea at all, at the right price whatever that price is. We’re willing to sell the company,” he told a packed audience.

The declaration came hours after Google had pulled out of an internet advertising deal with Yahoo amid increasing scrutiny from the Department of Justice.

Mr Yang said he was “disappointed” Google had pulled out of the partnership.

Mr Yang’s e-mail to employees ended with the words: “All of you know that I have always and will always bleed purple” – in reference to the predominant colour on the company’s logo.

Yahoo’s shares closed on Monday at $10.63, giving the company a valuation of only $14.7bn

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UK minister set for Syria talks

UK minister set for Syria talks
<img src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45215000/jpg/_45215486_b1158760-d6bd-496f-b061-13df46c4e00e.jpg” align=”left” width=”226″ height=”282″ alt=”British Foreign Secretary David Miliband talks to reporters on arrival in Damascus” border=”0″ vspace=”4″ hspace=”4″>

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has arrived in Syria for a meeting with President Bashar al-Assad.

His visit, the first by a top-level British official since 2001, is part of a regional tour that also includes Israel, the West Bank and Lebanon.

Mr Miliband told the BBC that Syria had a role to play as a force for stability in the Middle East.

The visit is the latest in a run of exchanges between Syria and European nations aimed at easing tense ties.

It comes a month after Mr Miliband met Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem in London for talks.

Building mutual understanding between the UK and Syria was important, Mr Miliband told the BBC.

“Syria has a big potential role to play in stability in the Middle East – it can be a force for stability or it can be a force for instability,” he said.

“Over the last 18 months I’ve been talking with the Syrian foreign minister about her (Syria’s) responsibilities in the region, in respect of terrorism, in respect of Iraq, in respect of the Middle East peace process, and we’ve got the chance now to take those discussions further forward.”

Mr Miliband will meet the Syrian president and other top officials on Tuesday morning, before flying on to Lebanon.

Syria has faced diplomatic isolation since the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, even though it denies any role in the killing.

It has also been shunned by the US because of its ties with Iran, the Palestinian group Hamas and the Lebanese Shia political and militant movement Hezbollah.

But European nations, led by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, are now initiating steps to bring Syria back into the international fold, arguing that engagement is the way forward.

On Monday David Milliband visited Israel and the West Bank for talks with top leaders.

He called on both Israelis and Palestinians to maintain the five-month-old ceasefire in Gaza, following recent outbreaks of violence that have triggered an Israeli blockade of the territory.

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Shark-cam captures motion passed by the world’s biggest fish

Shark-cam captures motion passed by the world’s biggest fish
By Rebecca Morelle
Science reporter, BBC News

It is as thick as your arm, gloopy and smells disgusting – and it has just been caught on camera for what is thought to be the first time.

A crew has managed to record a whale shark – the world’s biggest fish – expelling food waste, which was then scooped up for research.

Biologist Mark Meekan said the sample had helped him to discover more about the giant creature’s feeding habits.

The footage forms part of a BBC Natural World wildlife programme: Whale Shark.

Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus) are related to great whites, but are far less fearsome – they are filter feeders, swimming about with their enormous mouths open to scoop up tasty morsels floating in their paths.

"One way to work out what is going in one end is to look at what is coming out of the other"
Dr Mark Meekan

<img src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45203000/jpg/_45203479_whaleshark2_226.jpg” align=”left” width=”226″ height=”170″ alt=”Mark Meekan” border=”0″ vspace=”0″ hspace=”4″>

They can grow up to 12m long; yet, despite their staggering size, very little is known about these ocean giants.

Dr Meekan, who is based at the Darwin office of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, was followed by the Natural World team as he has carried out his research on these mysterious fish.

He said: “It does seem rather weird, someone being so excited about seeing whale shark poo. And I’m pretty certain that this is the first time it has been filmed.

“But it is pretty rare – they are usually doing their business down in much deeper water.”

He described the faeces that the team collected as “scientific gold”.

“One way to work out what is going in one end is to look at what is coming out of the other.<img src=”http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45203000/jpg/_45203481_whaleshark_226.jpg” align=”left” width=”226″ height=”170″ alt=”Whale shark ” border=”0″ vspace=”4″ hspace=”4″>

“By seeing one of these animals poo and getting hold of some of that stuff, we can use sophisticated genetic techniques to look at the DNA in that sample to find out exactly what those animals have been eating.”

Genetic analysis revealed that the whale shark had been feasting on red crab larvae – and this could be why the fish are attracted to Ningaloo Reef in Australia, which has plenty of this foodstuff available.

Dr Meekan said: “This is something we suspected, but now it has been confirmed.

“It has been really exciting to nail that one.”

Dr Meekan and his team have also been using technology to find out more about the fish.

He told the BBC: “The study of whale sharks is a fairly young science. People have only really been studying these things since the late 1980s.”

But now, he said, advances in tagging technology over the last decade have really helped to improve understanding.

Satellite tags, which relay GPS data every time the fish surface, have already helped researchers to discover the vast distances the creatures travel.

But the team is also now taking advantage of other tagging systems.

Dr Meekan said: “Now we are taking another step forward and instead of just acquiring location, we are now also using tags to look at water temperature and salinity, to make a physical description of the waters they are inhabiting.

“They have also got an accelerometer on board which shows the position of the animal in 3D. It’s pretty cool.”

The tags also contain video cameras to get a whale-shark’s-eye view of its underwater terrain.

The marine biologist said: “There has recently been a rapid evolution of technology. These tags are becoming more and more sophisticated; we are learning more and more things about the animal, its environment and what it is doing.

“We have gone from saying: ‘Oh, there the animal is!’ to really understanding it, what it is doing out there.”

Whale Shark is on BBC Two on Tuesday 18 November at 2000 GMT.</i

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