International

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 19:53 UTC

  Australia natural disasters costs forecasted to wipe growth in two quarters

  

  Floods in Australia have dragged business conditions particularly in Queensland to depths not seen since the global financial crisis, according to a local analysis that offered a more pessimistic view than the government’s assessments.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 19:47 UTC

  In less than a decade Asia will account for 65% of all vehicles sold

  

  India is likely to take the fourth position in the global automotive market by 2015, according to a study conducted by Booz & Co. Currently that spot is held by Brazil, another emerging market, which is likely to give India a challenge.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 18:16 UTC

  German cadet death that triggered “mutiny” in training ship was “unfit for duty”

  

  The 25-year-old female cadet who died after falling from rigging on the German training ship Gorch Fock was unfit for duty because of her weight, according to German media reports on Tuesday.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 18:13 UTC

  Reported shark attacks increased globally 25% during 2010

  

  The number of reported shark attacks in 2010 increased globally but declined in the state of Florida, the shark capital of the world, according to an annual report released Monday by the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 17:31 UTC

  Meryl Streep plays Lady Thatcher leading up to the Falklands’ conflict

  

  The first photo of Meryl Streep as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was released by Pathé UK Tuesday. Streep is currently filming “The Iron Lady” in London which focuses mainly on the period immediately prior to the Falkland Islands conflict.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 15:43 UTC

  As FMD ravages Korea, US beef and pork exports soar

  

  United States beef is enjoying a huge turnaround in Korea with exports making a sharp leap thanks to the devastating foot-and-mouth (FMD) outbreak in the Asian peninsula, according to industry data released this week.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 14:29 UTC

  China’s New Year takes off with higher interest rates, third time since October

  

  China's central bank said Tuesday it will increase key lending and deposit rates by a quarter percentage point, effective Wednesday. This is the third People’s Bank of China rise since last October, a move aimed at combating stubbornly high inflation.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 05:29 UTC

  Egypt attempts to put the economy back on movement

  

  The Egyptian government is struggling to finance itself as foreign investors pull out and the currency drops. It had to scale down a bond auction on Monday as state-owned banks failed to stump up enough cash.

• Monday, February 7th 2011 - 19:50 UTC

  British PM David Cameron “the doctrine of state multiculturalism has failed”

  

  Britain’s Prime Minister identified segregation and separatism as key issues behind the threat of Islamic extremism and called for a “shared national identity”.
  Speaking at the Munich Security Conference PM Cameron stressed the difference between Islam as a religion and Islamic extremism as a political ideology, and said that Western countries need to confront extremism rather than practice a “hands-off tolerance”.

• Sunday, February 6th 2011 - 21:29 UTC

  Brazil and UK ready to sign huge defence contract, say media reports

  

  Brazil with a defence market described as “one of the fastest growing in the world” will be signing a defence agreement with the UK which should open the way for a deal worth “billions of dollars”, according to reports in the Brazilian and UK media.