International

• Friday, December 16th 2011 - 06:38 UTC

  WTO deal on government buying, opens 100bn dollars of government contracts

  

  The World Trade Organization reached on Thursday a landmark reform on its Government Procurement Agreement, opening 100 billion dollars of government contracts to foreign competition and paving the way for more countries, including China, to join the pact.

• Friday, December 16th 2011 - 06:35 UTC

  IMF warns no economy in the world will be immune to the crisis unfolding

  

  The world economic outlook is “quite gloomy” and will require action by all countries, starting with those in Europe, to head off an escalating crisis that carries risks of a global depression, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday.

• Friday, December 16th 2011 - 06:32 UTC

  Fitch downgrades the credit rating of the world’s six largest banks

  

  Fitch announced on Thursday it has downgraded the credit rating of six of the world’s largest banks. The banks include US’ Bank of America, British Barclays, and France’s BNP Paribas.

• Friday, December 16th 2011 - 06:23 UTC

  French PM from Brazil admits new “jolts” can be expected in the Euro zone

  

  French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said his country is likely to face new “jolts” from the Euro zone debt crisis amid rumors it could lose its triple-A credit rating.

• Thursday, December 15th 2011 - 20:59 UTC

  Astori anticipates investment grade and the white list for Uruguay in 2012

  

  Vice president Danilo Astori anticipated that in 2012 Uruguay will recover investment grade and said that including Uruguay in the OECD “grey list” was a “tremendous injustice” which did not take into account all the advances achieved in combating money laundering and narcotics trade.

• Thursday, December 15th 2011 - 17:52 UTC

  After nine bloody years US military officially end Iraq war

  

  The US military officially ended its war in Iraq, rolling up its flag at a low-key ceremony with Defence Secretary Leon Panetta nearly nine bloody years after the invasion that ousted Dictator Saddam Hussein.

• Thursday, December 15th 2011 - 00:50 UTC

  China imposes punitive duties on large cars exported from US

  

  China will impose punitive duties of up to 22% on large cars and SUVs exported from the United States, China's Commerce Ministry said on Wednesday, the latest in a series of trade disputes between the world's two largest economies.

• Thursday, December 15th 2011 - 00:45 UTC

  Hong Kong world’s most developed financial market; Brazil in Latam

  

  Hong Kong became the world’s most developed financial market, overtaking the US and the UK for the first time, according to the Financial Development Report 2011 published by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Wednesday.

• Wednesday, December 14th 2011 - 18:05 UTC

  China questions safety of Brazil’s dry bulk carriers, the world’s largest

  

  China should be in no rush to allow Brazil’s new Valemax ships, the world's largest dry bulk carriers, into its ports, as they have not been thoroughly tested and any oil leak from one could be catastrophic, an influential Chinese industry group warned on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, December 14th 2011 - 17:26 UTC

  Korea invites China and Japan to help reduce illegal fishing in the Yellow Sea

  

  South Korea will try to reach an agreement with Japan and China to help reduce illegal fishing in its waters following the death of a South Korean Coast Guard this week during a fight with Chinese fishermen who were caught red-handed operating in the Yellow Sea.