International

Monday, June 11th 2012 - 19:44 UTC
China cuts retail gasoline prices 5.5% to reflect cheaper oil and boost the economy

China, the world's second-biggest oil user, will reduce gasoline and diesel prices by the most since 2008 after global crude costs slumped. State-controlled retail gasoline prices will fall by 530 Yuan (83 dollars) a metric ton and diesel will be cut by 510 Yuan, the National Development and Reform Commission, NDRC, the nation's top economic planner, said on its website last week.
Monday, June 11th 2012 - 19:23 UTC
Extended blooming phytoplankton discovered under thinning Arctic ice cap

Scientists have made a biological discovery in Arctic Ocean waters as dramatic and unexpected as finding a rainforest in the middle of a desert. A NASA-sponsored expedition punched through three-foot thick sea ice to find waters richer in microscopic marine plants, essential to all sea life, than any other ocean region on Earth.
Monday, June 11th 2012 - 18:54 UTC
Principles of freedom and self determination for the Falklands remain as vital now as in 1982

Foreign Minister Jeremy Browne begins this Monday a four day visit to the Falkland Islands, the thirtieth anniversary of the conclusion of the South Atlantic conflict and in a brief message pointed out that thirty years after the conflict the Falklands’ people are being forced to defend themselves once more this time from “the policies of coercion and intimidation” by the current Argentine government.
Monday, June 11th 2012 - 05:34 UTC
Major Indian steel company readies plans to scrap huge mining project in Bolivia

India's Jindal Steel & Power said on Saturday it was making plans to scrap a 2.1 billion dollars steel project in Bolivia, saying the Bolivian government had not met contract terms that include supply of natural gas for the project.
Monday, June 11th 2012 - 05:28 UTC
Hollande set to consolidate power with a working majority in the Lower House

Socialist President François Hollande looked set to consolidate his grip on power with a left-wing majority in parliament after a first-round vote on Sunday, and may be able to govern without relying on hard leftists hostile to closer European integration
Monday, June 11th 2012 - 04:52 UTC
Spain separates fishing dispute with Gibraltar from any sovereignty discussions

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo said over the weekend that the solution to the fishing dispute was separate to any discussion on the sovereignty of Gibraltar or its waters.
Monday, June 11th 2012 - 03:52 UTC
Positive reactions to Spanish bail out, but next Sunday Greece puts the Euro to test

The future of the Euro may be determined in the coming weeks, as Greek voters decide whether to honour the country’s international bailout and create a first test for Spain’s newly built 100 billion-Euro banking firewall.
Monday, June 11th 2012 - 03:28 UTC
Argentina claims Falklands and slams UK for ‘illegal exploitation of natural resources’

Ahead of a week of intense diplomatic exchanges and on the Day of the Affirmation of the Argentine Rights Over the Malvinas, Islands and Antarctic Sector, the Argentine Government once again ratified its claim over the Islands’ sovereignty and questioned the UK over the “illegal exploitation of their natural resources” and the “increased militarization of the South Atlantic region.”
Saturday, June 9th 2012 - 05:08 UTC
Spain expected this weekend to ask help from the Euro zone to bail out its banks

Spain is expected to ask the Euro zone for help with recapitalising its banks this weekend, sources in Brussels and Berlin said on Friday, becoming the fourth country to seek assistance since Europe's debt crisis began.
Saturday, June 9th 2012 - 03:31 UTC
Hollande could manage a narrow manageable majority in Sunday’s election

The latest opinion polls released ahead of France's parliamentary election on Sunday suggest President Francois Hollande will win a narrow but workable majority that depends on Green allies and hard leftists.