International

• Tuesday, August 7th 2012 - 17:26 UTC

  Rice supply outstrips demand despite lower 2012 production according to FAO

  

  The United Nations’ food agency cut its 2012 global rice production forecast but said supply would still outstrip demand and that there was no increased risk of a food crisis as long as countries do not resort to export bans.

• Tuesday, August 7th 2012 - 17:19 UTC

  Spain says the Gibraltar dispute is back on the ‘Brussels process” bilateral track

  

  Spain’s new Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Federico Trillo-Figueroa, has claimed that his Foreign Minister, Jose Garcia Margallo, has managed to revive bilateral dialogue with UK over Gibraltar within the Brussels context.

• Tuesday, August 7th 2012 - 15:19 UTC

  Professional fishermen to catch sharks that are attacking surfers in Reunion Islands

  

  France will hire professional fishermen to kill some 20 sharks off the Indian Ocean island of Reunion this week in an effort to understand the reasons for a series of attacks in the surfing hotspot.

• Tuesday, August 7th 2012 - 08:41 UTC

  Food inflation in Latin America reached 8.9% in June, the highest in 2012

  

  Food inflation in Latin America and the Caribbean reached 8.9% in June compared to the same month in 2011, which means the highest so far this year, according to a report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO.

• Tuesday, August 7th 2012 - 08:25 UTC

  Seeds market clash: Monsanto wins one billion dollars lawsuit to DuPont

  

  Monsanto, the world's largest seed company won a one billion dollars victory over its arch rival in a lawsuit concerning patents in the agricultural seed market. The victory, concerning genetically modified seeds that allow crops to tolerate weed killer, should have little immediate impact in that lucrative marketplace.

• Tuesday, August 7th 2012 - 08:19 UTC

  US regulator claims Standard Chartered bank laundered 250bn dollars for Iran

  

  Standard Chartered bank illegally “schemed” with Iran to launder as much as 250bn dollars for nearly a decade, a US regulator says. The New York State Department of Financial Services said that the bank hid 60.000 secret transactions for “Iranian financial institutions” that were subject to US economic sanctions.

• Tuesday, August 7th 2012 - 08:14 UTC

  China central bank anticipates injecting more liquidity in second half of 2012

  

  China's central bank said on Sunday it will strengthen the fine-tuning of its monetary policy in the second half of this year, indicating as many analysts believe that more liquidity may be injected into the world's second largest economy.

• Monday, August 6th 2012 - 21:18 UTC

  US Noble Energy farms in to explore for oil in east and south Falklands’ waters

  

  London AIM listed Falkland Oil and Gas announced it has reached an agreement to farm out a 35% stake in most of its Falkland Islands’ exploration licenses to the US Noble Energy to help fund its drilling plans off the Islands.

• Monday, August 6th 2012 - 07:21 UTC

  Slowdown in Latin America further exposed vulnerabilities of Spain and Portugal

  

  The slowdown in Latin America’s once booming economies could take a heavy toll on profits for Spanish and Portuguese companies whose two-decade investment spree abroad has provided a lifeline during a deepening crisis at home.

• Friday, August 3rd 2012 - 08:06 UTC

  IMF calls for “policy game changer” in the Euro zone to arrest spread of debt crisis

  

  The IMF called on Thursday for a “policy game changer” in the Euro zone to arrest the spread of the debt crisis it now says is clearly engulfing the entire currency bloc and its smaller neighbours.