International

• Wednesday, June 8th 2011 - 02:12 UTC

  Germans don’t work as hard or intensely as Southern Europeans

  

  Southern Europeans work more and longer than Germans revealed a study discarding recent comments made by Chancellor Angela Merkel arguing that workers in debt-mired Greece, Spain and Portugal are lazy.

• Wednesday, June 8th 2011 - 00:09 UTC

  Argentine debt expert forecasts significant “hair cuts” for Greek bond holders

  

  Holders of Greek bonds will suffer a larger ‘hair cut’ than that experienced by Argentine creditors forecasts Argentina’s former Finance Secretary Guillermo Nielsen who played a crucial role in negotiations with creditors following the 2002 default.

• Tuesday, June 7th 2011 - 21:51 UTC

  Uruguay complains about low ratings from the risk agencies

  

  Economy minister Fernando Lorenzo accused rating agencies of failing to recognize the increasing strength of Uruguay’s sustained economic growth and therefore denying its investment grade status.

• Tuesday, June 7th 2011 - 03:27 UTC

  IMF backs UK plan to reduce deficit but warns on weak growth

  

  The International Monetary Fund backed the British government's plans to reduce the budget deficit, but said tax cuts or more quantitative easing may be needed if growth proves persistently weak.

• Tuesday, June 7th 2011 - 01:30 UTC

  Ban Ki-moon running for a second term as UN Secretary General

  

  Ban Ki-moon formally asked the UN Security Council to support his candidacy for a second five-year term as UN secretary-general, according to a letter. His first term ends December 31 and so far is unopposed.

• Tuesday, June 7th 2011 - 00:55 UTC

  EU aid for farmers hurt by fresh produce slump triggered by E-coli outbreak

  

  European Union farm ministers will try on Tuesday to agree financial aid for fruit and vegetable producers whose sales have been hit by an E.coli outbreak that has so far claimed at least 22 lives in Europe and triggered a scare in fresh produce consumption.

• Monday, June 6th 2011 - 06:54 UTC

  Tiananmen Square deadly crackdown remembered in Beijing, Hong Kong and Taipei

  

  Thousands of Chinese and foreign tourists flocked to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Saturday, the anniversary of the deadly 1989 crackdown on mass pro-democracy protests, amid a noticeable massive police presence.

• Monday, June 6th 2011 - 06:34 UTC

  Major Indian oil company interested in shale gas assets in Argentina

  

  State run India OIL Ltd has drawn up a war chest of over 1 billion US dollars, for acquiring a producing oilfield abroad and the company is trawling major oil-producing geographies, among which shale gas assets in Argentina, chairman N M Borah said last week.

• Monday, June 6th 2011 - 06:32 UTC

  Major reforms to sullage plants in Gibraltar following last week’s fire

  

  Gibraltar Government is likely to have fuel services, including sullage plants of the type that caught fire last Tuesday and injured welders and cruise passengers, moved away from their current location.

• Monday, June 6th 2011 - 06:27 UTC

  Number of millionaires expanded 12% in 2010 and reached 12.5 million

  

  The ranks of millionaires expanded by 12% in 2010, to about 12.5 million, led by Singapore, as gains in financial markets lifted global wealth for a second straight year, the Boston Consulting Group said.