Economy

• Wednesday, April 14th 2010 - 20:47 UTC

  EU warns Portugal is in danger zone: must adopt tougher deficit cuts

  

  The European Union said Portugal may need further budget measures this year to meet its deficit- cutting targets, as the pace of economic growth contributes to investor concern about contagion from Greece’s fiscal crisis.

• Wednesday, April 14th 2010 - 03:12 UTC

  “Avatar” director joins battle against huge dam in the Amazon

  

  Canadian filmmaker James Cameron, director of “Avatar,” promised this week to “tell the world” about the opposition of Indians and peasants to the construction in the Brazilian Amazon of the world’s third-largest hydroelectric dam.

• Wednesday, April 14th 2010 - 03:09 UTC

  Cuba calls for an efficient agriculture to cut annual 1.5 billion USD food imports

  

  Cuba continues to spend more than 1.5 billion US dollars a year on food imports, Vice President Jose Ramon Machado said while urging farmers to boost production, Communist Party daily Granma reported Monday.

• Wednesday, April 14th 2010 - 01:26 UTC

  Brazil believes the Chinese currency will appreciate “a bit more” this year

  

  China may let the Yuan gain “a bit more” within 12 months as the world’s third-largest economy moves away from a currency policy that creates distortions, Brazilian central bank President Henrique Meirelles said.

• Wednesday, April 14th 2010 - 00:30 UTC

  US trade deficit widens as US economy recovers from recession

  

  The US trade deficit widened to 39.7 billion US dollars in February, as import growth continued to outpace exports. The overall trade deficit increased by 2.7 billion from January, the Commerce Department said.

• Tuesday, April 13th 2010 - 23:58 UTC

  China will reform exchange rate regime at “its own time and needs”

  

  Chinese President Hu Jintao has resisted pressure from US President Obama to raise the value of the Chinese Yuan. He told Mr Obama that it would “neither balance Sino-US trade nor solve the US unemployment problem”, Chinese official news agency Xinhua reported.

• Tuesday, April 13th 2010 - 23:55 UTC

  Chinese company buys further into Canada’s oil-sands

  

  China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, Sinopec more than doubled China's presence in Canada’s oil-sands by paying 4.65 billion US dollars for US for ConocoPhillips' 9% stake in Syncrude Canada Ltd.

• Tuesday, April 13th 2010 - 23:52 UTC

  Rebound in exports helps to narrow UK trade deficit in February

  

  A rebound in exports helped to narrow the UK trade deficit in February, official figures have shown. The trade deficit in goods and services shrank to £2.1bn, down from a £3.9bn deficit in January.

• Tuesday, April 13th 2010 - 23:48 UTC

  High liquidity and capital flows impact on non crisis countries admits IMF

  

  The unprecedented liquidity created by countries to fight the economic crisis could create problems for policymakers in some advanced and emerging market economies with relatively strong growth prospects and higher interest rates, the International Monetary Fund said in a new report.

• Tuesday, April 13th 2010 - 23:46 UTC

  Argentine minister denies soybean oil exports to China “have been interrupted”

  

  Argentine Agriculture Minister Julián Domínguez said Tuesday that soybean oil exports to China “have not been interrupted” and assured that supplying companies “have promised to readapt themselves to the Asian country's demands”.