International

• Monday, July 16th 2012 - 23:59 UTC

  IMF cuts world growth forecast; Latam drops from 3.7% to 3.4%

  

  International Monetary Fund on Monday cut its global growth forecast and warned that the outlook could dim further if policymakers in Europe do not act with enough force and speed to quell their region's debt crisis.

• Monday, July 16th 2012 - 23:48 UTC

  Italian banks downgraded but risk-rating agencies analysis are also questioned

  

  UniCredit SpA and Intesa Sanpaolo SpA were among 13 Italian banks that had long-term debt, deposit or issuer ratings cut by Moody’s Investors Service, which cited the government’s weakened creditworthiness.

• Monday, July 16th 2012 - 23:42 UTC

  Manchester United retains title as the world’s most valuable sports team, says Forbes

  

  English football club Manchester United retained their title as the world's most valuable sports team, according to an annual top 50 list released by Forbes on Monday that was dominated by National Football League (NFL) franchises.

• Monday, July 16th 2012 - 14:51 UTC

  Iconic Falklands’ veteran Vulcan opened Farnborough Air-show

  

  Britain’s Farnborough International Air-show opened last week with a joint flypast of the Red Arrows and the world’s last airworthy Avro Vulcan bomber XH558 commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War.

• Monday, July 16th 2012 - 07:11 UTC

  Paraguay optimistic about the OAS report and its repercussions

  

  Paraguay is optimistic about an Organization of American States resolution regarding recent events and the current situation in the country, despite strong criticism from other regional organizations such as Mercosur and Unasur.

• Monday, July 16th 2012 - 07:05 UTC

  European Parliament begins fact-finding mission in Paraguay

  

  A delegation from the European parliament begins this Monday an in-situ data collecting mission in Paraguay following the situation triggered a month ago when then President Fernando Lugo was impeached and removed from office, but which has caused the new regime a certain freezing of international links.

• Monday, July 16th 2012 - 03:21 UTC

  Merkel confident Bundestag will support aid package for Spanish banks

  

  Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was confident that a majority of German lawmakers would back aid for Spain's ailing banking sector at a special sitting of the lower house Bundestag set for Thursday.

• Monday, July 16th 2012 - 02:35 UTC

  Hollande says jobs (and neutralizing family affairs), are his priorities

  

  President Francois Hollande marked Bastille Day (July 14) celebrations with a pledge to fight industrial layoffs and clean up French politics, after watching troops parade down the Champs Elysees as jets streamed the national colours overhead.

• Saturday, July 14th 2012 - 07:15 UTC

  Markets find optimism in Chinese economy despite slower growth

  

  China's economy has grown at its slowest pace in three years as investment slowed and demand fell in key markets such as the US and Europe. GDP rose by 7.6% in the second quarter, compared with the same period a year ago. That is down from 8.1% in the previous three months.

• Saturday, July 14th 2012 - 07:06 UTC

  Visa and Mastercard agree to largest settlement with retailers over card fees

  

  Credit card companies Visa and Mastercard and major US banks have agreed to a 7.25bn dollars settlement to retailers over card fees. The case, which has been going on for seven years, is over firms colluding to fix the fees that stores pay to process credit and debt card payments.