International

• Wednesday, January 25th 2012 - 19:37 UTC

  FAO underlines importance of agriculture to address world’s environmental challenge

  

  Agriculture is part of the solution to the world's environmental challenge and must play a key role at next June's Rio summit on sustainable development, the Brazilian head of the UN food agency said this week.

• Wednesday, January 25th 2012 - 07:42 UTC

  President Rousseff to address protestors of anti-Davos Economic Forum

  

  Thousands of trade unionists, students and activists for indigenous and environmental causes gathered Tuesday in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre to kick off debate in the anti-capitalist World Social Forum.

• Wednesday, January 25th 2012 - 04:21 UTC

  S&P likely to downgrade Greece’s rating to “selective default”

  

  Standard & Poor's will likely downgrade Greece's ratings to “selective default” when the country concludes its debt restructuring, but that will not necessarily destroy the credibility of the European Union, an official with the ratings agency said on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, January 25th 2012 - 04:06 UTC

  IMF warns Euro zone crisis is dragging down the world economy

  

  The Euro zone debt crisis is escalating and dragging down the world economy, the International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday, as it sharply cut its outlook for global growth and called for policies to restore confidence.

• Tuesday, January 24th 2012 - 04:00 UTC

  Biggest solar storm in 7 years could disrupt satellite and electric ground communications

  

  The biggest solar storm in seven years to hit the Earth will begin Tuesday early morning, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Centre. It will likely cause the largest solar radiation storm that the earth has encountered since 2005.

• Monday, January 23rd 2012 - 23:44 UTC

  Greece publishes “shame” list of tax evaders, totaling 14.8 billion Euros

  

  The Greek government published a list of the country’s worst tax evaders on Sunday, after months of warning those same evaders to pay up or risk being named and shamed.

• Monday, January 23rd 2012 - 23:39 UTC

  EU joins US: bans oil imports from Iran and imposes further economic sanctions

  

  The European Union banned imports of oil from Iran on Monday and imposed a number of other economic sanctions, joining the United States in a new round of measures aimed at deflecting Tehran’s nuclear development program.

• Monday, January 23rd 2012 - 23:36 UTC

  IMF and Germany can’t agree on road map for Euro zone rescue

  

  IMF chief Christine Lagarde urged on Monday European governments to increase their financial firewall to prevent Greece’s troubles from ensnaring bigger countries like Italy and Spain.

• Monday, January 23rd 2012 - 17:00 UTC

  UK offshore drilling activity in UK waters fell to its lowest since 2003

  

  Offshore drilling activity in UK waters fell by a third last year to its lowest level since 2003, going against a trend of increased exploration and appraisal activity in the rest of north-west Europe, according to a new report.

• Monday, January 23rd 2012 - 16:47 UTC

  Repsol-YPF begins exploratory drilling off Cuba closet o the Florida Keys

  

  A large oil rig has arrived off the coast of Cuba to begin searching for offshore oil deposits. Several international companies will use the rig to drill exploratory wells in deep water in the Florida Strait, which separates Cuba from the US.