International

• Wednesday, October 5th 2011 - 21:39 UTC

  Operation Fire Wall: IMF will also chip in funds to protect Spain and Italy

  

  The International Monetary Fund could buy Spanish or Italian bonds alongside the Euro zone bailout fund if needed, to help boost investor confidence in those countries, the IMF Europe head Antonio Borges said on Wednesday.

• Wednesday, October 5th 2011 - 16:39 UTC

  “UK will protect the Falklands as long as they want to remain British” says Defence chief Fox

  

  Britain will protect the people of the disputed Falkland Islands for as long as they want to remain British citizens, Defence Secretary Liam Fox said on Wednesday speaking at the annual conference of the ruling Conservative Party.

• Wednesday, October 5th 2011 - 09:23 UTC

  Abbas takes off on diplomatic charm offensive in support of Palestinian state

  

  Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas flew to Europe on Tuesday to kick off a week-long tour which will also take him to Latin America to shore up support for his UN membership bid.

• Wednesday, October 5th 2011 - 08:26 UTC

  Anaemic Spain: no end in sight for soaring unemployment

  

  The number of people filing for unemployment benefits in Spain shot up by nearly 100,000 in September, a surprisingly big increase even in a month that tends to be bad for workers as vacation season contracts expires.

• Wednesday, October 5th 2011 - 08:02 UTC

  Corporations call for ambitious EU/Mercosur deal and hope farm issues do not ‘derail the project’

  

  Major European corporations called on political leaders for an “ambitious and balanced” European Union-Mercosur trade agreement and asked that ‘agriculture issues’ impacts do not derail the project.

• Wednesday, October 5th 2011 - 07:52 UTC

  Wool prices suffer considerable tumble in September but still above a year ago

  

  Wool prices suffered a considerable tumble during September in line with the bearish market for commodities as a result of global economic uncertainty, although values are still considerably higher than a year ago.

• Tuesday, October 4th 2011 - 20:24 UTC

  Brazil and EU call for concerted action to face current international situation

  

  Brazil and the European Union must take concerted action to calm markets fearful of global contagion spreading from Europe's debt crisis, leaders from both sides said on Tuesday.

• Tuesday, October 4th 2011 - 20:15 UTC

  Brazil-FIFA hold a ‘positive meeting’ but negotiations are ongoing

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff had a “positive meeting” with FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke on Monday to discuss the 2014 World Cup, Brazil's Sports Minister Orlando Silva said Tuesday.

• Tuesday, October 4th 2011 - 20:00 UTC

  Greek striking public sector workers blockade ministries and paralyze Athens

  

  Greece’s striking public sector workers blockaded the entrance to several ministries in Athens on the second anniversary of the ruling Socialist party's election victory, disrupting talks with EU and IMF inspectors on the next aid tranche.

• Tuesday, October 4th 2011 - 19:55 UTC

  Euro banks holders of Greek debt told to prepare for a further ‘shave’

  

  European finance ministers are considering making banks take bigger losses on Greek debt and have postponed a vital aid payment to Athens until mid-November, setting up a crunch point in the Euro zone's sovereign debt crisis.