International

• Thursday, July 14th 2011 - 18:31 UTC

  Media tycoon Murdoch refuses a summons by British Parliament

  

  Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch refused a summons by Britain's parliament to answer questions over alleged crimes at one of his newspapers, leaving a senior executive from his media empire to face lawmakers keen to break the media mogul's grip on politics.

• Thursday, July 14th 2011 - 07:11 UTC

  Private sector involvement fundamental for Greek bailout, says IMF

  

  The IMF said private sector involvement was fundamental to a Greek bailout and urged Athens to move faster on fiscal and structural reforms to avoid debt default.

• Thursday, July 14th 2011 - 01:39 UTC

  Emerging markets help Volkswagen sell 4 million units in first half of 2011

  

  Germany’s Volkswagen has sold 4 million cars worldwide in the first half of 2011. The company hopes momentum from emerging markets will help it achieve its goal of selling 10 million cars annually before 2018.

• Wednesday, July 13th 2011 - 21:40 UTC

  EC checks into German government aid to car manufacturers

  

  European Commission is to examine aid paid out by the German government to car manufacturers BMW and Volkswagen. The money has been pledged to promote projects in eastern Germany.

• Wednesday, July 13th 2011 - 18:49 UTC

  Europeans countries borrowing on Germany’s credit rating is over, says Dragui

  

  Europe’s debt crisis has entered a new phase and policy makers must come up with a “clear” response to stop the contagion that threatens the region’s single currency, said the European Central Bank’s incoming President Mario Draghi.

• Wednesday, July 13th 2011 - 16:35 UTC

  Europe unveils plan to reform fishing industry and phase out ‘discards’

  

  European Commission has unveiled major plans to reform the EU fishing industry and stop catches being wasted. The proposal, due to take effect from 2013, would give fleets quota shares guaranteed for at least 15 years.

• Wednesday, July 13th 2011 - 16:12 UTC

  UK political system targets News Corporation: end of Murdoch’s empire?

  

  Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation has announced that it is dropping its planned bid to take full ownership of satellite broadcaster BSkyB. The announcement came as the House of Commons prepared to vote for a motion supported by all major party leaders calling on Mr Murdoch to do so.

• Wednesday, July 13th 2011 - 00:44 UTC

  Sao Paulo and Rio do Janeiro among the 12 most expensive cities in the world

  

  Brazil’s two biggest cities are getting more and more costly and are more expensive places to live in than New York, according to the annual cost of living study released Tuesday by business consulting firm Mercer.

• Wednesday, July 13th 2011 - 00:29 UTC

  The year of the seven-billionth baby, up two billion since July 1987

  

  The United Nations marked on Monday July 11, World Population Day, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressing that ending global poverty and inequality was the key to unleashing the great human potential for prosperity and peaceful coexistence.

• Tuesday, July 12th 2011 - 23:43 UTC

  US and Spain host to most of the 6.5 million that migrated from the Americas from 2003 to 2009

  

  Between 2003 and 2009, nearly 950,000 people per year emigrated from the Americas to countries of the OECD and of this total, nearly half went to the United States, and a fourth to Spain, according to the First Report on International Migration in the Americas.