International

• Saturday, July 28th 2012 - 08:47 UTC

  “The Olympic Games are coming home tonight,” IOC President Jacques Rogge

  

  Britain's Queen Elizabeth declared the London Olympics open after playing a cameo role in a dizzying ceremony designed to highlight the grandeur and eccentricities of the nation that invented modern sport.

• Saturday, July 28th 2012 - 02:35 UTC

  Despite profits in Brazil, Santander bank profits halved following write-downs

  

  Profits at Spanish banking giant Santander have halved after it made more write-downs against unrecoverable loans secured against property. The bank, which is the Euro zone biggest, said first-half profits halved to 1.7bn Euros in the six months to the end of June.

• Saturday, July 28th 2012 - 01:13 UTC

  Plans for a 300bn Euro rescue of Spain and writing down of Greek bonds

  

  Spain has for the first time conceded it might need a full EU/IMF bailout worth 300 billion Euros if its borrowing costs remain unsustainably high, a Euro zone official was quoted in the Madrid media.

• Saturday, July 28th 2012 - 00:32 UTC

  US economy playing against President Obama’s re-election bid

  

  The White House cut its outlook for US growth in 2012 and 2013 on Friday, hours after data showed the economy grew at a tepid pace in the second quarter, raising concerns about a slowdown that could mar President Barack Obama's re-election chances.

• Saturday, July 28th 2012 - 00:10 UTC

  Russia investing heavily in becoming self sufficient in beef production

  

  Russian President Vladimir Putin has an ambitious plan to cut his country's 3 billion dollars annual import bill for beef. He even aspires to return Russia's beef industry to its pre-revolutionary stature.

• Friday, July 27th 2012 - 23:59 UTC

  “Veggie” diet blamed for poor performance of China’s women volleyball team

  

  Fearing tainted meat, China's women's volleyball team has stuck to a strict vegetarian diet for the last three weeks, which the team's coach is now blaming for his athletes' abysmal performance.

• Friday, July 27th 2012 - 05:50 UTC

  US urges Argentina to normalize relations with international financial community

  

  US Department of State Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Mike Hammer urged the Argentine Government to normalize its relations with the international financial community and confirmed President Obama’s administration intention of having “the best possible relations” with Argentina.

• Friday, July 27th 2012 - 05:41 UTC

  Falklands share the full spirit of the London Olympics with torch bearer Rebecca

  

  Falkland Islands residents were able to get into the swing of the lead up to the Olympics this week when one of 8,000 Olympic torch bearers, Commonwealth Games badminton gold medallist Rebecca Pantaney (36) carried a torch to the Islands.

• Friday, July 27th 2012 - 05:29 UTC

  Best looking women cities: Kiev, Stockholm and in the neighborhood Buenos Aires

  

  Travelers Digest's Top Ten Cities With The Most Beautiful Woman says Kiev is 'without a doubt, home to the world’s most beautiful women', closely followed by Stockholm and not so distant Buenos Aires.

• Friday, July 27th 2012 - 02:32 UTC

  US candidate Romney apologized to PM Cameron for London Games comments

  

  US Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's high-profile overseas trip got off to a rocky start on Thursday when he was forced to clarify a comment seen as criticizing London's handling of the Summer Olympics that he came to celebrate.