Lagarde to stand for second term as IMF chiefJanuary 22, 2016 - 13:53 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, has confirmed she will stand for a second term, BBC News reports. Lagarde threw her hat into the ring during an appearance on French television. Her term in office expires on July 5 and the process to find a successor opened this week. The UK's Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has already said he is "delighted to nominate" her for a new term. She has also received the backing of Germany, China, France and Korea. Last month, Lagarde was ordered to stand trial in France for alleged negligence over a compensation payment to a top businessman, Bernard Tapie. She approved the payment in 2008 when she was French finance minister. However, Lagarde's lawyer described the decision to make her stand trial as "incomprehensible", and said the IMF boss would appeal. Despite this controversy, commentators say she has no obvious challengers for the job. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Putin congratulates Pashinyan’s birthday Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on his birthday on June 1. Opposition motorcade en route to Gyumri for large rally A motorcade of protesters headed by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan is heading to the city of Gyumri. Ruling MPs, Foreign Minister talk Armenia-Azerbaijan processes MOs from the ruling Civil Contract party met with the Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan in the Armenian parliament. Russia: Armenia’s frozen membership weakens CSTO position in Caucasus A Russian envoy said any step that could alienate the CSTO member states from each other is “deeply wrong”. |