International

• Thursday, May 12th 2011 - 00:58 UTC

  China tourist group buys 20% stake in Spain’s NH Hotels chain

  

  China's fourth-biggest airline group, HNA Group, has bought a 20% stake in leading Spanish hotel chain NH Hoteles for 431.6 million Euros, NH Hoteles said on Tuesday.

• Thursday, May 12th 2011 - 00:48 UTC

  EU/Mercosur trade talks remain at “technical level and delayed until end of the year”

  

  Reports from the European Union and Mercosur confirm that negotiations for a trade agreement remain at ‘technical level’ and no information will be forthcoming until both sides have agreed on the lists of products to be exchanged.

• Wednesday, May 11th 2011 - 07:39 UTC

  Apple the most valuable brand in the world ends Google’s four year reign

  

  Registering a staggering 84% increase in value over the past year, Apple has emerged as the most valuable brand in the world, ending the four-year reign of Google at the top of the table in the sixth annual BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study.

• Tuesday, May 10th 2011 - 21:27 UTC

  Beijing promises a more flexible Yuan exchange rate, says US Treasury

  

  China assured the United States that it will continue moving toward a more flexible Yuan exchange rate, a US Treasury official said on Tuesday. The announcement came as the Central bank set the Yuan reference rate at the strongest level since 2005.

• Tuesday, May 10th 2011 - 21:23 UTC

  China’s trade surplus soars in April with imports less dynamic than exports

  

  China's trade surplus in April was nearly four times bigger than expected, with exports far exceeding imports. The trade surplus was 11.4 billion US dollars, according to the customs agency, whereas analysts had expected a figure of about 3 billion USD.

• Tuesday, May 10th 2011 - 21:16 UTC

  Triesman claims FIFA members asked for favours to vote for England 2018 World Cup

  

  Former English football association chairman David Triesman has accused FIFA executive committee members Jack Warner, Ricardo Teixeira, Nicolas Leoz and Worawi Makudi of asking for favours in return for their votes for England's 2018 World Cup bid.

• Tuesday, May 10th 2011 - 21:11 UTC

  Microsoft buys Skype for 8.5bn USD; targets Google leading position in advertising

  

  Microsoft Corporation agreed to buy Skype Technologies SA for 8.5 billion US dollars in cash to gain the world’s most popular Internet calling service and its 663 million customers.

• Tuesday, May 10th 2011 - 10:17 UTC

  S&P downgrades Greek debt as junk; “haircut” a growing possibility

  

  Standard and Poor's cut Greece's credit rating further into junk territory, reflecting growing doubts that the Euro zone's most fragile economy can manage its debt without imposing losses on private bondholders.

• Tuesday, May 10th 2011 - 09:37 UTC

  Conservationists claim seafood labelling ‘fails’ to support sustainable fishing

  

  The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has accused UK supermarkets of failing to label seafood in a way that makes it easy for consumers to select sustainable sourced fish. The allegation came as the MCS published the Good Fish guide, which is being hailed as the most comprehensive sustainable seafood advice released to date.

• Tuesday, May 10th 2011 - 09:34 UTC

  Mass culling of farm animals when outbreak of FMD ‘unnecessary’ say scientists

  

  The mass cull of farm animals to control the spread of foot-and-mouth disease, FMD, may be unnecessary if there is a new outbreak, scientists suggest. A new analysis of disease transmission suggests that future outbreaks might be controlled by early detection and killing only affected animals.