International

• Sunday, January 15th 2012 - 01:10 UTC

  Merkel insists EU must seal a pact to tighten fiscal rules

  

  Ratings downgrades in the Euro zone by S&P underline why Europe must seal a pact to tighten fiscal rules quickly and get its permanent bailout fund up and running as soon as possible, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday.

• Sunday, January 15th 2012 - 01:00 UTC

  Cruise captain arrested; 50 to 70 people still missing says Italian Coast Guard

  

  The Italian captain of the cruise ship that ran aground -- killing three persons and injuring 20 more -- was arrested late Saturday and is being investigated for manslaughter and abandoning ship, said a local prosecutor in Grosetto, Italy.

• Saturday, January 14th 2012 - 06:22 UTC

  EU Commissioner says S&P is “inconsistent” and lauds Euro rescue package

  

  The European Union Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Olli Rehn defended Euro-zone governments' crisis plans Friday, after Standard & Poor's downgraded nine out of 17 of the economic bloc's member states, a decision which he described as “inconsistent”.

• Saturday, January 14th 2012 - 06:20 UTC

  S&P Friday the 13th for Euro zone; nine countries suffer the rating scimitar

  

  The worst-kept secret on Wall Street was officially confirmed after the close Friday, when Standard & Poor’s downgraded its sovereign debt rating on France to AA+ from AAA. Spain and Italy saw their ratings cut two notches, while Germany’s AAA rating was left unchanged.

• Saturday, January 14th 2012 - 06:13 UTC

  Chevron, Repsol and Statoil to drill offshore Newfoundland and Labrador

  

  Chevron Canada Ltd., a big player in Canada's offshore oil industry, has struck a deal with Norwegian and Spanish oil companies to carry out exploration off the coast of Atlantic Canada.

• Saturday, January 14th 2012 - 06:09 UTC

  Eight dead and scenes of panic as cruise vessel hits a reef in Italian coast

  

  At least eight people are dead after a cruise ship ran aground off the Italian coast in an accident which forced the Italian coast guard to evacuate over 4000 people, according to Italian media reports.

• Saturday, January 14th 2012 - 06:01 UTC

  Link between eating processed meat and pancreatic cancer in Swedish research

  

  A link between eating processed meat, such as bacon or sausages, and pancreatic cancer has been suggested by researchers in Sweden. They said eating an extra 50g of processed meat, approximately one sausage, every day would increase a person's risk by 19%.

• Saturday, January 14th 2012 - 05:57 UTC

  UK student to be extradited to the US for hosting hacked films and TV programs

  

  A UK student from Sheffield can be extradited to the US to face copyright infringement allegations, a judge has ruled. Richard O'Dwyer, 23, set up the TVShack website which US authorities say hosts links to pirated copyrighted films and television programs.

• Friday, January 13th 2012 - 21:48 UTC

  UK producer prices drop in December; further emergency stimulus anticipated

  

  The prices of goods leaving Britain's factories surprisingly fell in December compared with November, confirming expectations that inflation is set to ease further this year, official data showed Friday.

• Friday, January 13th 2012 - 21:18 UTC

  S&P downgrades France’s rating; Greek swap talks on hold; Euro hits new low

  

  Stock markets and the Euro traded lower Friday as Greek debt swap talks were put on hold and France’s Finance minister confirmed that Standard & Poor’s has downgraded the country’s credit rating.