International

• Tuesday, February 14th 2012 - 20:57 UTC

  S&P and Fitch downgrade Spain’s top banks: Santander and BBVA

  

  Banco Santander SA and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA were among 15 Spain-based financial firms downgraded by Standard & Poor's after the credit-ratings company reduced the nation's grade last month.

• Tuesday, February 14th 2012 - 20:51 UTC

  New Year or Euro crisis: China’s January exports fall, imports plummet 15.3%

  

  China's exports fell in January the first decline in more than two years, raising fresh concerns about the impact of a global slowdown on its economy. Exports dipped 0.5% from a year earlier hurt by sluggish demand and factories being shut during the Lunar New Year.

• Tuesday, February 14th 2012 - 20:46 UTC

  C&W Worldwide soars 30% after Vodafone said it was interested in takeover

  

  Vodafone Group, the world's largest mobile operator by revenue, is considering a bid for Britain's Cable & Wireless Worldwide, whose fixed-line network could boost bandwidth for its Internet-hungry customers.

• Tuesday, February 14th 2012 - 04:50 UTC

  Don’t cry for Argentina

  

  By Ronald Sanders - The national and regional interests of Commonwealth Caribbean countries would hardly be served by backing Argentina in its long-running dispute with Britain over the Falkland Islands.

• Monday, February 13th 2012 - 21:00 UTC

  FAO Food Price Index up 2% in January, first increase since July 2011

  

  The FAO Food Price Index rose by nearly two percent or four points from December to January, its first increase since July 2011. According to FAO prices of all the commodity groups in the index registered gains last month with oils increasing the most followed closely by cereals, sugar, dairy products and meat.

• Monday, February 13th 2012 - 20:50 UTC

  Agriculture methods accelerate erosion and global warming, says UN report

  

  Global warming will get worse as agricultural methods accelerate the rate of soil erosion, which depletes the amount of carbon the soil is able to store, a United Nations' Environment Programme report said on Monday.

• Monday, February 13th 2012 - 20:41 UTC

  Falklands: Sean Penn in Argentina, calls for dialogue and an end to colonialism

  

  US actor Sean Penn gave his full support to Argentina’s sovereignty claim over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands and underlined the conflict must be solved through dialogue. The Hollywood star visited Buenos Aires on Monday as representative of the Haitian people and survivors of the earthquake that bashed the Caribbean nation in 2011.

• Monday, February 13th 2012 - 20:15 UTC

  Baroness Meryl Thatcher wins Bafta best actress for “The Iron Lady”

  

  Meryl Streep won the best actress at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Bafta, for her performance in The Iron Lady, continuing a triumphant awards season that looks set to carry her all the way to Oscar glory.

• Monday, February 13th 2012 - 20:06 UTC

  “We may be poor but not stupid”, China is not interested in EU government bonds

  

  The head of China’s 410 billion dollars sovereign wealth fund CIC brushed aside a call by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to buy European government debt, saying such investments were “difficult” for long-term investors.

• Monday, February 13th 2012 - 19:53 UTC

  EU/Mercosur hope to resume talks following French presidential election

  

  European and Latin American personalities underlined the peril of falling prey to short term results and forget the long term relation between the two regions which is expected to be re-launched following the French presidential election next April.