International

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 19:04 UTC

  Messi paid €10 million to correct tax returns for 2010/2011, says La Vanguardia

  

  Barcelona striker Lionel Messi, who turned 26 on Monday and is under investigation in Spain for tax fraud allegations, paid €10 million to the Spanish tax authorities to correct tax returns for 2010 and 2011, according to Spanish media reports.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 19:01 UTC

  EC clears purchase of NYSE Euronext by INE for 8.2bn dollars

  

  The European Commission gave unconditional approval for Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) to buy NYSE Euronext for 8.2 billion dollars a deal that strengthens ICE's presence in the lucrative derivatives trading business.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 18:00 UTC

  Extreme energy, extreme implications: interview with Michael Klare

  

  Interview by James Stafford of Oilprice.com - If oil and gas is a profoundly dynamic phenomenon, then so too must be environmental risk and conflicts over natural resources—and we are not getting the full picture from the mainstream media, according to Michael T. Klare, professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College, TomDispatch blogger.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 15:46 UTC

  Google is in a borderline crisis with European Union

  

  By Thomas Richardson - Google has reached a settlement with regulators of the European Union after antitrust charges were levied against the company. The EU accused Google of selectively displaying results based on its preferences. Google, which owns a virtual monopoly on Internet queries in Europe, is also accused of favouring the use of its own products in search results, which has drawn complaints from competitors, and the attention of regulators.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 08:20 UTC

  Ecuador confirms Edward Snowden has formally requested for asylum

  

  Ecuador's foreign minister said his country was “analyzing” a request for asylum by fugitive US intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden who is currently in Moscow

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 08:18 UTC

  Francis will meet indigenous leaders abused and persecuted in northern Argentina

  

  Following a request made by Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Pope Francis is scheduled to meet on Monday with Félix Díaz, the chief of the La Primavera Qom indigenous community from northern Argentina.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 08:17 UTC

  UK and China sign three year currency swap to make business in Yuan

  

  The Bank of England and its Chinese counterpart have signed a deal likely to boost trade between the UK and China in the Yuan. The BoE and the People’s bank of China have signed a three year currency swap arrangement worth 200bn Yuan (33bn dollars), the UK central bank confirmed.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 08:15 UTC

  End of near-zero interest rates; governments must do more for economic recovery and reform, says BIS

  

  The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) says banks have done their bit to help economic recovery and governments must do more. The Basel bases organization, known as the “central banks' central bank” says it is time for them to stop pumping funds into their economies.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 08:13 UTC

  Europe remains divided as to how to bail-out failed banks; next try Wednesday

  

  Europe failed to agree on how to share the cost of bank collapses, as Germany resisted attempts by France to water down rules designed to spare taxpayers in future crises.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 03:03 UTC

  Falklands: Sierra Leone says self-determination is paramount and supports sending C24 mission to the Islands

  

  Sierra Leone, member of the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization maintained that the rights of the Islanders, present in the Falkland/Malvinas Islands for 180 years, should be paramount to any settlement and that self determination was the guiding principle of any resolution to the question. “There is no dispute that the people are the holders of the right to self-determination”.