International

• Wednesday, July 18th 2012 - 07:59 UTC

  Mexico banking regulator says it repeatedly warned HSBC on money laundering

  

  Mexico's banking regulator on Tuesday defended its role in a money laundering scandal engulfing HSBC Holdings Plc, saying it had repeatedly told the bank to improve lax controls over suspect funds passing through its accounts.

• Wednesday, July 18th 2012 - 07:41 UTC

  Spain, Argentina and Brazil the strongest football tournaments in the world

  

  Argentina's First Division is second strongest tournament in the world after Spain, according to the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) July release.

• Wednesday, July 18th 2012 - 07:34 UTC

  Indian company scraps largest iron-steel development plan in Bolivia history

  

  India's Jindal Steel and Power scrapped plans Tuesday to invest 2.1 billion dollars in a Bolivian mining project and blamed the country’s “non-friendly business attitude” for the deal's collapse.

• Tuesday, July 17th 2012 - 23:40 UTC

  South Korea scraps criticized ‘scientific’ plan to resume whaling

  

  South Korea has decided to scrap its fiercely criticised plan to resume “scientific” whaling, apparently because of international pressure, a report said Tuesday.

• Tuesday, July 17th 2012 - 19:27 UTC

  HSBC grilled in US Senate for lax controls enabling billions of money laundering

  

  The CEO of the U.S. division of the big international bank HSBC is apologizing for lax controls that lawmakers say allowed Mexican drug cartels to launder billions of dollars through the US operation and many other illicit transactions for years.

• Tuesday, July 17th 2012 - 18:27 UTC

  MEP's surprised at Mercosur and Unasur drastic decisions on Paraguay

  

  The European lawmakers’ delegation said it was surprised with the drastic and quick determinations, with no right to defence or appeal, decided against Paraguay by Mercosur and Unasur, said Paraguayan Foreign Minister Jose Felix Fernandez Estigarribia, following a meeting in Asuncion with the visiting MEPs.

• Tuesday, July 17th 2012 - 04:55 UTC

  Premier Oil Falklands’ deal has full support from Foreign Office and markets

  

  Britain's Premier Oil which reached a 1 billion dollars deal to farm in and develop Rockhopper Exploration oil and gas discoveries in the Falkland Islands took advice from the Foreign Office before closing the deal, according to UK media.

• Monday, July 16th 2012 - 23:59 UTC

  IMF cuts world growth forecast; Latam drops from 3.7% to 3.4%

  

  International Monetary Fund on Monday cut its global growth forecast and warned that the outlook could dim further if policymakers in Europe do not act with enough force and speed to quell their region's debt crisis.

• Monday, July 16th 2012 - 23:48 UTC

  Italian banks downgraded but risk-rating agencies analysis are also questioned

  

  UniCredit SpA and Intesa Sanpaolo SpA were among 13 Italian banks that had long-term debt, deposit or issuer ratings cut by Moody’s Investors Service, which cited the government’s weakened creditworthiness.

• Monday, July 16th 2012 - 23:42 UTC

  Manchester United retains title as the world’s most valuable sports team, says Forbes

  

  English football club Manchester United retained their title as the world's most valuable sports team, according to an annual top 50 list released by Forbes on Monday that was dominated by National Football League (NFL) franchises.