International

• Thursday, June 17th 2010 - 22:38 UTC

  Swiss parliament agrees to tax treaty with US, which saves leading bank

  

  Swiss lawmakers approved Thursday a UBS tax treaty with the US, ending a two-year legal battle that threatened the American business of Switzerland’s largest bank. The vote removed the threat of further civil litigation against UBS and additional fallout under US criminal law.

• Thursday, June 17th 2010 - 22:29 UTC

  Irish church leaders attack “shocking” lending practices of some banks

  

  Church leaders in Northern Ireland have launched a bitter attack on the ‘shocking’ lending polices of some banks, claiming they are putting ‘decent’ businesses and people at risk.

• Thursday, June 17th 2010 - 22:25 UTC

  IMF praises Spain’s efforts to reform economy and publish banks ‘stress tests’

  

  The International Monetary Fund welcomed the results of a Spanish bond auction and said decisions by Spain and Germany to publish results of stress tests on banks will boost financial market confidence.

• Thursday, June 17th 2010 - 06:04 UTC

  Spanish government struggling to survive amid growing doubts about the economy

  

  The Spanish government Wednesday approved a reform to make the labour market more flexible, amid growing international concern over the stability of the country's economy.

• Thursday, June 17th 2010 - 05:54 UTC

  Scotch whisky matured for 64 years sold at £ 25.200

  

  A Scotch whisky matured for more than six decades sold for 25,200 pounds ($37,245) at an Edinburgh auction Wednesday as collectors vied for rare malts.

• Wednesday, June 16th 2010 - 04:48 UTC

  European leaders criticize risk-rating agencies for downgrading Greek debt

  

  Moody's decision to downgrade Greek debt was ill-advised and ill-timed, European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said, adding that it cast fresh doubt on risk-ratings agencies.

• Wednesday, June 16th 2010 - 04:41 UTC

  Afghanistan future formidable competitor of Chile in copper and lithium

  

  Nearly one trillion US dollars of untapped mineral resources have been found in Afghanistan by US officials, including iron, copper, cobalt, gold, and lithium.

• Wednesday, June 16th 2010 - 04:30 UTC

  Brazilian meats’ corporation set to become main supplier of McDonald’s

  

  Marfrig Alimentos SA, Latin America’s second-largest beef producer, agreed to buy meat processor US based Keystone Foods LLC for 1.26 billion US dollars to become a supplier to restaurant chains such as McDonald’s Corp.

• Wednesday, June 16th 2010 - 04:28 UTC

  Argentine minister encouraged with Japanese acceptance of bond-swap

  

  A majority of Japanese investors holding defaulted Argentine debt have exchanged it for new bonds and cash as part of an 18.3 billion US dollars swap that expires June 22, Argentina's finance secretary said on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, June 16th 2010 - 04:26 UTC

  Switzerland closer to handing list of suspected US tax-evaders

  

  Switzerland's parliament has voted to approve a deal which would see information on suspected tax-evaders be passed to US authorities. The Lower House of the Swiss parliament backed the agreement 81 to 61 with 53 abstentions, reversing its earlier decision to reject the agreement last week.