International

• Thursday, May 24th 2012 - 16:27 UTC

  China to take measures to boost demand fearing economy slowdown

  

  China has said it will take measures to boost demand and investment amid fears of a slowdown in its economy. The government said it will encourage private investment in sectors such as energy, railways and telecommunications.

• Thursday, May 24th 2012 - 05:40 UTC

  Uninspired EU summit pledges support for Greece, but prepares for “Grexit”

  

  European Union leaders pledged support for Greece on Thursday, vowing to keep the debt-wracked country in the Euro zone as officials prepared behind the scenes for a possible doomsday scenario of exit.

• Thursday, May 24th 2012 - 05:27 UTC

  Immigration has been sidelined in the US at the expense of human capital growth

  

  Immigration has been sidelined by the US government at the expense of economic and human capital growth, according to New York Mayor Bloomberg who blasted the US government for becoming so worried about reelection and so partisan that “they don't consider immigration as an economic strategy”.

• Thursday, May 24th 2012 - 05:13 UTC

  Glut of pigs in the US and China posed to halt four-year rally in prices

  

  The heaviest and most numerous US pig population on record and rebounding Chinese output are creating a surplus that is poised to halt a four-year rally in prices, reports Meat Trade News daily.

• Thursday, May 24th 2012 - 05:03 UTC

  Spain now tells Argentina “YPF is no more than a bump” in a long shared history

  

  Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo adopted on Wednesday a conciliatory tone towards Argentina for the first time after the YPF seizure by saying Argentina and Spain should hold “kindred nation” talks.

• Wednesday, May 23rd 2012 - 19:11 UTC

  Gibraltar and Spanish town agree on cross-border group to help sort out fishing dispute

  

  Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo and Spanish town La Linea Mayor Gemma Araujo agreed the creation of a cross-border joint working group that will be examining all aspects of the fishing dispute with Spain.

• Wednesday, May 23rd 2012 - 18:50 UTC

  Following the Falklands’ ad incident Britain/Argentina at the opening hockey match in London

  

  Britain’s men’s hockey team will play their opening match of the London Olympics against Argentina at 1900 BST on 30 July, one of whose players caused a controversy this month with a video filmed in the disputed Falklands/Malvinas islands.

• Wednesday, May 23rd 2012 - 18:38 UTC

  Euro-zone tells members to prepare contingency plans for a possible Greek exit

  

  Euro zone officials have told members of the currency area to prepare contingency plans in case Greece quits the bloc, an eventuality which Germany's central bank said would be testing but “manageable”.

• Wednesday, May 23rd 2012 - 06:28 UTC

  Ambassador Castro embroiled in controversy over Falklands and “possible constitutional reform”

  

  Argentine ambassador in UK Alicia Castro rejects having mentioned during a conference in London the “possibility of a constitutional reform” to incorporate the results in the event of a sovereignty negotiation over the disputed Falklands/Malvinas Islands.

• Wednesday, May 23rd 2012 - 03:56 UTC

  Spain, on the edge of a financial cliff, cancels all development aid to Latin America

  

  The Spanish government announced this week it was cancelling all development aid to Latin American countries as a direct consequence of the financial strains the EU member is suffering, which is the worst in decades with record unemployment of 24%.