International

• Thursday, July 26th 2012 - 21:24 UTC

  Repsol net profit down in second quarter; plans sale of assets to boost production

  

  Spain’s Repsol SA said on Thursday its second-quarter net profit (excluding the recently-nationalized Argentine unit YPF) declined 45% on the year, as higher production in Libya and elsewhere couldn't offset the effect of declining oil and gas prices on the value of inventories.

• Thursday, July 26th 2012 - 21:17 UTC

  UN criticizes as “devastating” Venezuela’s decision to pull out from human rights court

  

  United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Thursday that Venezuela's pullout of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR Court) would be “devastating” for the international organization. Spokesperson Rupert Colville said the move “will be not good for Venezuela either.”

• Thursday, July 26th 2012 - 20:35 UTC

  Mujica warns Uruguay is going through an exceptional period, but it is also finite

  

  President Jose Mujica said Uruguay was going through an ‘exceptional’ period vis-à-vis the world crisis but also warned that exceptionality has limits and is not forever.

• Thursday, July 26th 2012 - 20:28 UTC

  Uruguay central bank suggests “serene alert” attitude to address global crisis impact

  

  Uruguay must adopt an attitude of “serene alert” given the “uncertainty and uncommon volatility” prevailing in the world said central bank president Mario Bergara, underlining the country has reduced “vulnerabilities” considerably.

• Thursday, July 26th 2012 - 20:21 UTC

  Russia will sacrifice 33.000 hogs because of African swine fever outbreak

  

  Russian veterinary services have ordered the termination of 33.000 hogs following an outbreak of Africa swine pest, in the region of Tyer, in the neighbouring province of the capital Moscow.

• Thursday, July 26th 2012 - 19:51 UTC

  ECB to the rescue of Spain and Italy and avoid collapse of Euro zone

  

  European Central Bank President Mario Draghi pledged on Thursday to do whatever was necessary to protect the Euro zone from collapse, including acting to lower unreasonably high government borrowing costs.

• Thursday, July 26th 2012 - 19:42 UTC

  FAO and OIE call on countries to comply with destruction of “rinderpest” virus samples

  

  The UN's food agency FAO and the OIE (Animal health organization) called on countries on to comply with a 2011 global moratorium and destroy potentially dangerous “rinderpest” virus samples or put them into safe storage.

• Thursday, July 26th 2012 - 18:38 UTC

  Sea Shepherd leader Watson skips bail fearing extradition to Japan

  

  Sea Shepherd leader Paul Watson has skipped bail and fled from Germany, with his supporters claiming they fear he would have been extradited to Japan over Antarctic whaling protests.

• Thursday, July 26th 2012 - 09:07 UTC

  Immigration compensated for fewer babies, helped Germany increase population

  

  The number of babies born in Germany sank to a record low in 2011, official statistics showed Monday, but a surge in immigration to Europe's top economy led its population to grow.

• Thursday, July 26th 2012 - 09:00 UTC

  EC criticizes US risk rating agencies handling of the Euro-zone crisis

  

  A top official from the European Commission was particularly critical of the credit risk rating agencies in their handling of the Euro crisis and Germany brushed aside the latest rating agencies announcement saying the country is in a very sound economic and financial situation.