International

• Thursday, January 12th 2012 - 21:31 UTC

  Argentina and IMF moving closer, admit holding regular bilateral contact

  

  Speaking at a press conference from Washington DC on Thursday, IMF acting director of External Relations Gerry Rice said the organization’s directors “will meet in late January or early February to analyze the progress made in Argentina’s statistics”.

• Thursday, January 12th 2012 - 21:28 UTC

  ECB says flood of ‘cheap money’ helping the Euro zone banking system

  

  The European Central Bank's flood of cheap three-year money is helping the Euro zone's banking system substantially and supporting confidence in the bloc's economy which is showing some signs of stabilisation, president Mario Dragui said on Thursday.

• Thursday, January 12th 2012 - 14:28 UTC

  Chinese company to purchase world’s fourth largest uranium deposit in Namibia

  

  Namibia's competition commission said on Wednesday it had cleared a Chinese nuclear company to take over an Australian mining firm with rights to the world's fourth-largest uranium deposit.

• Thursday, January 12th 2012 - 04:17 UTC

  Fitch calls for greater support for Italy to prevent 'cataclysmic collapse' of the Euro

  

  The European Central Bank should ramp up its buying of troubled Euro zone debt to support Italy and prevent a “cataclysmic” collapse of the Euro, David Riley the head of sovereign ratings for Fitch, said on Wednesday.

• Thursday, January 12th 2012 - 04:13 UTC

  Federal Reserve ‘Beige Book’ confirms US economy modest expansion

  

  The US Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that all but one of its 12 banking districts experienced modest expansion from late November through the end of the year. The survey known as the Beige Book showed that the final weeks of 2011 were among the strongest.

• Wednesday, January 11th 2012 - 06:36 UTC

  EU warns Euro crisis is not over and asks for patience with Greece

  

  Greece is nearing an agreement with private-sector bond holders on a debt swap crucial to a second bailout package for Athens, the European Union's top economic official said on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, January 11th 2012 - 06:29 UTC

  Latin America a “top priority” for President Rajoy’s foreign policy

  

  Spanish president Mariano Rajoy said that Latin America is a “top priority” of his administration’s foreign policy and his target is to have the “best possible” relations with the Ibero-American community.

• Wednesday, January 11th 2012 - 06:27 UTC

  A divided EU to decide on oil embargo on Iran January 23

  

  European Union governments agreed Tuesday to bring forward a meeting of foreign ministers expected to decide on an oil embargo on Iran by one week to January 23. In its statement confirming the date, the EU said the decision to bring it forward from January 30 was taken to avoid a scheduling clash with a summit of EU leaders set for that day.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 06:00 UTC

  Campden Hill Square, UK’s most desirable road with average house price £ 4.9m

  

  Campden Hill Square in Holland Park, West London, has become Britain's most desirable road with an average house price of £4.9m. The square near Kensington Palace has topped a survey of house prices across the country by Lloyds TSB.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 05:56 UTC

  Ortega inaugurates consecutive mandate; opposition fear he could follow Chavez example

  

  Nicaragua President Daniel Ortega takes office for a third time on Tuesday with an ample majority in Congress and in the presence of close allies such as Iran’s Mahmud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez.