International

• Wednesday, July 11th 2012 - 22:56 UTC

  'Euroleaf', trademark for the strict EU organic farming standards

  

  The “Euro-leaf” EU organic logo was introduced on 1 July 2010, but in order to help operators adapt to the new rules, and to avoid waste of existing packaging, a 2-year transition period was allowed before it was compulsory on all products.

• Wednesday, July 11th 2012 - 22:33 UTC

  ILO anticipates further job losses in Euro-zone because of austerity measures

  

  The Euro-zone could lose 4.5 million more jobs in the next four years unless the region shifts away from austerity, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has warned. That rise would take unemployment in the 17-nation bloc to 22 million.

• Wednesday, July 11th 2012 - 22:28 UTC

  Rajoy raises VAT to 21% and drastically cuts benefits and other perks

  

  Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced a swathe of new taxes and spending cuts designed to slash 65 billion Euros from the budget deficit by 2014 as recession-plagued Spain struggles to meet tough targets agreed with Europe.

• Wednesday, July 11th 2012 - 22:16 UTC

  Germany expected to grow 1.9% in 2013 because of Euro crisis

  

  Germany's DIW economic research institute slashed its 2013 forecast for Europe's largest economy by 0.5 percentage points to 1.9% on Wednesday, saying the Euro zone debt crisis would have a bigger impact than it had originally expected.

• Wednesday, July 11th 2012 - 22:09 UTC

  OECD/FAO anticipate promising future for farm-commodity prices

  

  World farm commodity prices will edge higher in the next decade, and oilseeds are set to outperform wheat and other cereals, both trends fuelled by demand in emerging economies, the OECD said on Wednesday, presenting a joint report with the UN's food agency FAO.

• Wednesday, July 11th 2012 - 19:57 UTC

  German proposal: richest citizens should pay more taxes or loan long term to governments

  

  A leading German economic research institute has come up with one way to help countries involved in the euro crisis pay down their sovereign debt: get the wealthiest citizens to pay higher taxes, or force them to loan money to their governments.

• Wednesday, July 11th 2012 - 19:35 UTC

  OPEC lowers world oil demand forecast for next year

  

  The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, left its forecast for 2012 growth in world oil demand unchanged at 0.9 million barrels a day, saying it expects growth to slow to 0.8 million barrels a day in 2013 due to a continuing global economic slowdown.

• Wednesday, July 11th 2012 - 06:43 UTC

  PM Cameron/Hollande summit: France admits “Europe at different speeds”

  

  President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron tried Tuesday to shake off a rocky start to their relationship despite lingering differences over the Euro zone crisis.

• Wednesday, July 11th 2012 - 03:03 UTC

  Roubini says ‘perfect storm’ is closer; forecasts Finland will leave the Euro before Greece

  

  Nouriel Roubini, or “Mr. Doom” who predicted earlier this year that a “perfect storm” scenario would play out in the global economy, has now said that his prediction is coming true, pointing to slow growth currently hitting the United States, Europe and China.

• Tuesday, July 10th 2012 - 21:17 UTC

  China feeling the strain of global slowdown: US overtakes EU as main export market

  

  China's June trade data stoked anxiety about the strength of domestic demand in the world's second biggest economy as imports rose at only half the pace expected, signalling a need for Beijing to do more to bolster growth.