Stock markets and the Euro traded lower Friday as Greek debt swap talks were put on hold and France’s Finance minister confirmed that Standard & Poor’s has downgraded the country’s credit rating.
The trade of illegal and counterfeit pesticides is proliferating in Europe reports Europol. The exceptional ‘low risk – high profit’ margin, combined with the lack of harmonisation in legislation and implementation, make this a fast growing area of organised crime.
Food prices fell in December 2011 with the FAO Food Price Index dropping 2.4%, or five points from November, FAO said on Thursday. At its new level of 211 points, the Index was 11.3% (27 points) below its peak in February 2011.
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has begun accepting applications for new generic top-level domains (gTLDs). Currently, there are 22 top-level domain endings, such as .com, .info and .org.
Speaking at a press conference from Washington DC on Thursday, IMF acting director of External Relations Gerry Rice said the organization’s directors “will meet in late January or early February to analyze the progress made in Argentina’s statistics”.
The European Central Bank's flood of cheap three-year money is helping the Euro zone's banking system substantially and supporting confidence in the bloc's economy which is showing some signs of stabilisation, president Mario Dragui said on Thursday.
Namibia's competition commission said on Wednesday it had cleared a Chinese nuclear company to take over an Australian mining firm with rights to the world's fourth-largest uranium deposit.
The European Central Bank should ramp up its buying of troubled Euro zone debt to support Italy and prevent a “cataclysmic” collapse of the Euro, David Riley the head of sovereign ratings for Fitch, said on Wednesday.
The US Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that all but one of its 12 banking districts experienced modest expansion from late November through the end of the year. The survey known as the Beige Book showed that the final weeks of 2011 were among the strongest.
Greece is nearing an agreement with private-sector bond holders on a debt swap crucial to a second bailout package for Athens, the European Union's top economic official said on Tuesday.