Stories for June 8th 2012

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.
Friday, June 8th 2012 - 23:18 UTC
Environmentalists propose a whales’ sanctuary ring along the American continent

Environment organizations meeting in Panama will demand the creation of a whales’ sanctuary in the south Atlantic and south Pacific, at the coming meeting of the International Whaling Commission.
Friday, June 8th 2012 - 21:06 UTC
Fitch downgrades Repsol rating to BBB- on fears of YPF seizure impact

Repsol, the Spanish oil producer whose Argentine unit YPF was nationalized in April, was cut to the lowest investment grade by Fitch Ratings, the first downgrade since reducing dividends to shore up its finances.
Friday, June 8th 2012 - 20:59 UTC
Guernsey Bailiff, guest of the Falklands during Liberation commemoration

The Island of Guernsey's Bailiff is to visit the Falkland Islands to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the end of the conflict and the Islands' liberation.
Friday, June 8th 2012 - 20:51 UTC
Bank of England stand-by on optimism over a solution to the Euro debt crisis

The Bank of England has resisted injecting further emergency liquidity to the UK economy as optimism over finding a solution to the Euro zone debt crisis grew.
Friday, June 8th 2012 - 20:48 UTC
Earl and Countess of Wessex visit Gibraltar to celebrate Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

The Earl and Countess of Wessex – Prince Edward and Sophie - are visiting Gibraltar from Monday to Wednesday of next week as part of Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.
Friday, June 8th 2012 - 20:35 UTC
Artefacts from controversial 1804 wreck stored in Gibraltar returned to Spain

Archaeological artefacts recovered from a controversial wreck and stored in a warehouse in Gibraltar were handed to Spanish authorities this week. The items were recovered by Odyssey Marine Exploration in 2007 from the wreck of “Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes”, a Spanish galleon that sank off Portugal in 1804.
Friday, June 8th 2012 - 20:30 UTC
Pinochet remains a strongly divisive figure in Chilean public opinion

Chilean Executive spokesperson Andrés Chadwick asserted the government’s impartiality toward Sunday’s screening of “Pinochet,” a documentary on Chile’s former dictator, amid calls from human rights organizations and local and national politicians for President Sebastian Piñera to intervene.
Friday, June 8th 2012 - 20:21 UTC
China lowers key rates and gives banks more flexibility to help boost growth

China has cut its key interest rates for the first time since 2008, in an attempt to boost its slowing growth. The benchmark one-year loan rate was cut by a quarter of one percent to 6.31% while deposit rates were cut from 3.5% to 3.25%.
Friday, June 8th 2012 - 20:11 UTC
EU gets tough on border controls to address large-scale immigration

European Union governments would be able to suspend passport-free travel in parts of Europe for as long as two years under regulations proposed on Thursday to address concerns over large-scale immigration.