International

• Friday, July 1st 2011 - 15:31 UTC

  EU and Mercosur resume ‘formal’ trade negotiations next week

  

  European Union and Mercosur delegates are scheduled to meet next week in Brussels for another round of negotiations with the purpose of reaching a trade agreement.

• Friday, July 1st 2011 - 06:39 UTC

  Philip Morris launches legal action against Australia; similar to Uruguayan case

  

  Tobacco giant Philip Morris International launched legal action this week against the Australian government over the country's plans to strip company logos from cigarette packages and replace them with grisly images of cancerous mouths, sickly children and bulging, blinded eyes.

• Friday, July 1st 2011 - 06:29 UTC

  Australian MPs plant to limit purchase of prime farmland by foreigners

  

  Australian lawmakers are demanding a review of foreign investment rules to stop foreign mining companies, including those from China, buying up prime farmland.

• Friday, July 1st 2011 - 06:23 UTC

  EU farm budget frozen for next seven years and conditioned to ‘greening’

  

  The European Union has published its long-awaited budget, which will see spending on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) frozen for the next seven years and make 30% of direct support conditional on ‘greening’.

• Friday, July 1st 2011 - 06:20 UTC

  EU paymasters reject point blank proposal for a 5% budget hike

  

  The European Commission’s request for a 5% hike in member states’ contributions in the next EU budget met immediate resistance from big countries such as Germany, France and Britain yesterday.

• Friday, July 1st 2011 - 01:48 UTC

  Brazil and Japan allege over 100 countries support UN Security Council reform

  

  Foreign Affairs ministers from Brazil and Japan announced that over 100 nations have expressed support for a proposal to expand the United Nations Security Council.

• Friday, July 1st 2011 - 01:38 UTC

  Beijing-Shanghai high speed train link begins commercial operations

  

  High speed trains linking Beijing and Shanghai made their commercial debut on Thursday on a 33 billion US dollars track China hopes will open a new page to the country’s rail history and help ease its overloaded transport system.

• Thursday, June 30th 2011 - 20:10 UTC

  Relief in financial markets: Greece approves austerity and privatization package

  

  The Greek parliament approved on Thursday detailed austerity and privatization bills in a crucial vote to secure emergency funds and avert imminent bankruptcy, but longer-term dangers still lurk.

• Thursday, June 30th 2011 - 20:06 UTC

  Pickets take to the streets of Britain to protest pension reforms

  

  Teachers and civil servants marched through the streets and picketed government buildings across Britain today in protest at planned pension reforms, launching what could be a long period of labour unrest over austerity measures.

• Thursday, June 30th 2011 - 07:09 UTC

  US daily calorie intake up 30% in 30 years: cut on snacks and king size portion

  

  Snacking and super sizing are two of the dieter's worst enemies, research suggests. The average daily calorie intake in the US has increased by almost a third in 30 years, reaching 2,374 kilocalories.