International

• Thursday, January 6th 2011 - 12:42 UTC

  Future Chinese PM promises full financial and economic support for Spain

  

  China has confidence in the Spanish financial market and will continue buying bonds issued by Spain’s government, Beijing’s Deputy prime minister said in an op-ed published in Madrid daily El Pais.

• Thursday, January 6th 2011 - 12:25 UTC

  Korea resorts to vaccination to combat foot and mouth epidemic

  

  Overwhelmed by the rapid spread of foot and mouth disease FMD the South Korean government announced that it will vaccinate pigs, cows and all other cloven hoofed animals. The decision came after the highly contagious virus has turned into a nationwide epidemic, with livestock farms in the eastern province of Gangwon falling victim to the deadly disease.

• Thursday, January 6th 2011 - 11:56 UTC

  Gold forecasted to break above 1.500 USD in 2011 after 29% rise in 2010

  

  Gold closed 2010 with its strongest annual performance since 2007 and marking a fifth straight month of gains in December, driven by a weaker dollar and global economic uncertainty.

• Thursday, January 6th 2011 - 11:44 UTC

  Merkel committed to support the Euro, in spite of German public opinion

  

  Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed Germany's commitment to the Euro in her New Year message to the country last week.

• Thursday, January 6th 2011 - 11:10 UTC

  As with Greece and Portugal, China comes to Spain’s rescue; 7.5 billion deals

  

  China and Spain signed this week business deals worth 7.5 billion US dollars, a welcome boost for Spain's recession-hit economy. Visiting Vice-Premier Li Keqiang also vowed to help Europe overcome its debt crisis (and support the Euro), as he started his three-nation European tour.

• Thursday, January 6th 2011 - 11:07 UTC

  Barroso warns Europe of a tough “painful” year ahead

  

  The year 2011 will be economically challenging and painful, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned this week. After two years of economic recession, Barroso expects a difficult year ahead and underlined the need for Europe to make progress on economic governance and policy coordination.

• Wednesday, January 5th 2011 - 09:17 UTC

  The hidden risks of social media

  

  Europol’s new iOCTA* report examines how EU citizens are risking their personal identities, privacy and computer data through the use of social media tools which are increasingly a target for cybercriminal activity.

• Wednesday, January 5th 2011 - 08:55 UTC

  New agreement between LAN and Jetstar

  

  Chile's LAN has announced an agreement with the Australian budget airline, Jetstar, owned by Quantas airways.

• Sunday, January 2nd 2011 - 23:33 UTC

  Air traffic growth moderates: begins to expand at historic rates, says IATA

  

  International scheduled air traffic results for November showed an 8.2% year-on-year passenger traffic growth and a 5.4% increase for freight, according to the latest report from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

• Sunday, January 2nd 2011 - 23:30 UTC

  China reiterates commitment to combat consumer inflation

  

  Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao vowed again to step up efforts to keep consumer inflation in check in 2011, state media reported on Sunday.