
The European Commission is seeking to up the fight against tax evasion within the European Union. The Commission wants governments to automatically exchange information on a wide range of financial income earned in their countries by non-residents.

The Nicaraguan Congress has approved a proposal to have a canal built linking the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. A Hong Kong-based company has been granted a 50-year concession to build the waterway, which will rival the Panama Canal.

The countdown to 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil officially began this Wednesday 12 June. Simultaneous events in the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Brasilia celebrated the unveiling of a clock marking the time remaining to the opening game of Brazil 2014.

Food commodity markets, in particular for cereals, are set to be more balanced in 2013/14, according to FAO Food Outlook report published on Thursday. World food imports in 2013 are tentatively forecast at 1.09 trillion dollars, close to last year's level, but 13% below the record of 2011, the biannual report on global food markets said.

Chile and the UK held a round of defense talks in London at the end of May as part of the defense and security agreements between the two countries. The talks took place at the Ministry of Defense and were hosted by the UK Minister for International Security Strategy, Dr. Andrew Murrison.

With concerns about our ability to feed 12 billion people by the end of the century, one engineer is looking to replace conventional food with something produced by a 3D printer, and he’s getting a grant from NASA to create a prototype.

France threatened to block the start of free trade talks between the European Union and the United States if movies and digital media are not kept out the negotiations. Two days before EU countries are supposed to give the go-ahead for negotiations France said it would veto the talks unless the sector - that it sees as crucial to its cultural identity and under threat from Hollywood - is excluded.

Chinese bloggers got on the wrong side of censors this week when they likened an image of Presidents Xi and Obama at the Sunnylands estate in California to a picture of the popular children’s cartoon characters Winnie the Pooh and Tigger.

Wages in the United Kingdom have fallen more in real terms during the current economic downturn than ever before, according to a report. One third of workers who stayed in the same job saw a wage cut or freeze between 2010 and 2011, said the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

World famous Barcelona and Argentine striker Lionel Messi has declared on his Facebook page that he is surprised by accusations in Spain of tax avoidance.