International

• Friday, April 13th 2012 - 01:14 UTC

  FAO Food price index remained virtually unchanged in March

  

  The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) averaged 216 points in March 2012, virtually unchanged from 215 points in February. Among the various commodity groups, only oils prices showed strength, compensating for falling dairy quotations, while the indices of cereals, sugar and meat prices were largely unchanged from February’s level

• Friday, April 13th 2012 - 00:53 UTC

  The remarkable robust 1945 line and the Falkland Islands dispute

  

  By Gwynne Dyer - International human rights campaigner and occasional actor Sean Penn, whose well-deserved Nobel Peace Prize continues to be delayed for mysterious reasons, was the first famous foreigner to lend his support to the cause. “The world today is not going to tolerate any ludicrous and archaic commitment to colonialist ideology,” he told Cristina Kirchner, the president of Argentina. He was speaking, of course, of the Falkland Islands.

• Thursday, April 12th 2012 - 17:48 UTC

  World trade growth will slow for second year in 2012, anticipates WTO

  

  World trade growth will slow for a second year to 3.7% in 2012 but “severe” downside risks could drive it further below the 20-year average of 5.4%, the World Trade Organization forecast on Thursday.

• Thursday, April 12th 2012 - 17:20 UTC

  Brazil Senate won’t consider controversial World Cup bill unless Blatter shows up

  

  FIFA President Sepp Blatter is trying to schedule a trip to Brazil to speak at a public hearing about a controversial World Cup bill FIFA wants approved as soon as possible.

• Thursday, April 12th 2012 - 17:19 UTC

  Swiss video accuses Blatter of ignoring human rights in run-up to World Cup

  

  A video featuring world football boss Sepp Blatter dancing uninhibitedly has been launched in Switzerland to draw attention to human rights in the run-up to the 2014 World Cup.

• Thursday, April 12th 2012 - 17:15 UTC

  Judge denies injunction to bar Chevron from operating in Brazil

  

  Brazilian judge denied an injunction seeking to bar oil company Chevron Corp and drill-rig operator Transocean Ltd from operating in Brazil after two offshore oil leaks, a federal court in Rio de Janeiro said this week.

• Thursday, April 12th 2012 - 17:11 UTC

  Soros tells Germany preparing for “end of the Euro” only worsens the situation

  

  Billionaire investor George Soros said financial markets are concerned other countries will follow Germany’s Bundesbank in girding against the end of the Euro.

• Thursday, April 12th 2012 - 17:08 UTC

  Spain warns Argentina that any hostile action “will bring consequences”

  

  Amidst the cross-fire between the Argentine government and Repsol-YPF oil giant, Spain’s Industry, Energy and Tourism Minister José Manuel Soria, warned on Thursday that “any sign of hostility” against Spanish companies “will be considered as a hostile sign against Spain and its government, and will bring consequences.”

• Thursday, April 12th 2012 - 01:28 UTC

  Joint poll shows ‘Falklands/Malvinas’ issue is ‘important’ for Argentines, but only ‘relevant’ for Brits

  

  Argentines give more importance than the British to the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty issue, according to the first public opinion on the matter done simultaneously in both countries involved.

• Thursday, April 12th 2012 - 01:04 UTC

  US World Bank candidate tells board of directors he is not afraid of ‘challenging orthodoxies’

  

  Jim Yong Kim, the US nominee to head the World Bank, told the bank's board of directors that he would not hesitate to question the status quo and do his best to help the world poorest.