International

• Friday, August 12th 2011 - 17:24 UTC

  Berlin Wall’s Lesson for the Barrier-Builders of Today

  

  By Frederick Taylor - It was a chilly night for high summer in Berlin 50 years ago 13 August 1961, and it took East German Communists only about five hours to divide one of Europe’s grandest cities neatly in two.

• Friday, August 12th 2011 - 06:17 UTC

  Sarkozy and Merkel plan confidence-building summit to prop Euro and markets

  

  French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss next Tuesday how to make the Euro zone work more effectively amid persistent doubts in financial markets over Europe's ability to solve its sovereign debt crisis.

• Friday, August 12th 2011 - 02:53 UTC

  China prepared to let the Yuan appreciate to help managed ‘imported inflation’

  

  The Chinese Yuan is ready to appreciate more rapidly against the dollar in coming months as it takes on a bigger role in Beijing’s box of monetary policy tools, a group of official Chinese newspapers reported on Friday.

• Thursday, August 11th 2011 - 23:12 UTC

  PM Cameron promises to track down and punish rioters and looters

  

  British Prime Minister David Cameron, facing a defining crisis of his premiership, promised on Thursday to crack down on street gangs as a national priority and said rioters behind Britain's worst violence in decades would be hunted and punished.

• Thursday, August 11th 2011 - 07:04 UTC

  UN Assembly president and Timerman discuss Falklands/Malvinas situation and Unasur

  

  Argentine Foreign Affairs Minister Héctor Timerman received on Wednesday the president of the United Nations General Assembly, Joseph Deiss to discuss “the Malvinas situation, Unasur growing presence and the international financial crisis”, among other global issues.

• Thursday, August 11th 2011 - 06:57 UTC

  Euro debt problems trigger hyper volatility in sensitive world markets

  

  Asian shares were mixed on Thursday as fears about the European debt crisis overshadowed the region's growth prospects. Japan's Nikkei 225 index was down 1.3%, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng also dropping by 1.5%.

• Thursday, August 11th 2011 - 06:48 UTC

  UK Parliament expected to grill PM Cameron for police cuts in the wake of rioting

  

  British Prime Minister David Cameron is set to come under renewed pressure to reverse the coalition government's police cuts in the wake of riots sweeping the country.

• Thursday, August 11th 2011 - 06:31 UTC

  Three credit rating agencies confirm France as triple-A with stable outlook

  

  Moody’s, Standard & Poor's (S&P) and Fitch confirmed Wednesday that France still rates as a triple-A country with a stable outlook. The comments came in response to market rumours of a French sovereign credit rating downgrade, which hit French bank stocks.

• Wednesday, August 10th 2011 - 20:32 UTC

  US to ask China why it needs an aircraft carrier and calls for military transparency

  

  The United States said Wednesday it would like China to explain why it needs an aircraft carrier amid broader US concerns about Beijing's lack of transparency over its military aims.

• Wednesday, August 10th 2011 - 17:43 UTC

  PM Cameron authorizes water cannons and baton rounds against rioting

  

  UK Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday authorized police to use water cannons after four nights of rioting, looting and arson - saying a “fight back” is under way to restore law and order to Britain's streets.