Economy

• Monday, June 11th 2012 - 19:44 UTC

  China cuts retail gasoline prices 5.5% to reflect cheaper oil and boost the economy

  

  China, the world's second-biggest oil user, will reduce gasoline and diesel prices by the most since 2008 after global crude costs slumped. State-controlled retail gasoline prices will fall by 530 Yuan (83 dollars) a metric ton and diesel will be cut by 510 Yuan, the National Development and Reform Commission, NDRC, the nation's top economic planner, said on its website last week.

• Monday, June 11th 2012 - 05:47 UTC

  Opinion poll shows support for Cristina Fernandez sliding significantly

  

  The image of Argentine president Cristina Fernandez and the approval of her government have fallen significantly in June compared to last October when she was re-elected for a second four year mandate.

• Monday, June 11th 2012 - 03:52 UTC

  Positive reactions to Spanish bail out, but next Sunday Greece puts the Euro to test

  

  The future of the Euro may be determined in the coming weeks, as Greek voters decide whether to honour the country’s international bailout and create a first test for Spain’s newly built 100 billion-Euro banking firewall.

• Saturday, June 9th 2012 - 05:13 UTC

  Middle class Argentines protest with pots and pans against corruption, crime, inflation and the dollar clamp

  

  For the third night in ten days angry Argentines took to the streets of Buenos Aires and other major cities banging pots and pans to protest corruption, rampant crime and insecurity, inflation and the dollar clamp in the midst of an economy that is showing clear signals of exhaustion and growing questions on the current course of affairs.

• Saturday, June 9th 2012 - 05:08 UTC

  Spain expected this weekend to ask help from the Euro zone to bail out its banks

  

  Spain is expected to ask the Euro zone for help with recapitalising its banks this weekend, sources in Brussels and Berlin said on Friday, becoming the fourth country to seek assistance since Europe's debt crisis began.

• Saturday, June 9th 2012 - 05:05 UTC

  Argentine industrial activity falls 3% in April, but up 1.1% in first four months

  

  Industrial activity in Argentina dropped 3% in April compared to the same month a year ago, with the first four months closing with 1.1% growth, although with a declining tendency according to the latest data from the Argentine Industrial Union, UIA.

• Saturday, June 9th 2012 - 02:46 UTC

  Chile’s May inflation on target but government fears external risks

  

  Chile's consumer price index remained unchanged in May, the government statistics agency INE said on Friday, slowing its pace from April as lower food and transport prices offset higher electricity costs. Prices rose 0.1% in April, the INE said last month.

• Saturday, June 9th 2012 - 02:41 UTC

  FAO food price index fell by 4% in May on prospects of good cereal production

  

  United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said global food prices dropped sharply in May due to generally favourable supplies, growing global economic uncertainties and a strengthening of the US dollar.

• Saturday, June 9th 2012 - 00:37 UTC

  Argentina rapidly becoming too expensive for foreign tourists

  

  Argentina is rapidly becoming an expensive country for tourists and evidence of this is the declining number of tourists arriving in the country in the first months of the year while the number of Argentine travelling overseas is soaring, according to Mario Lielman, chair of the Buenos Aires Tourism and Travel Agencies Association.

• Friday, June 8th 2012 - 23:34 UTC

  Beverage industry blasts New York for limiting sale of oversized sugary drinks

  

  New York City's top health official shot back at critics who have blasted the city's plan to limit the sale of oversized sugary drinks such as soda, calling beverage industry opposition ridiculous.