International

• Saturday, July 31st 2010 - 19:26 UTC

  Egypt to sign free trade agreement at Mercosur summit in Argentina

  

  Egypt will be signing a free trade agreement with Mercosur during the group’s presidential summit scheduled for next August 3 in Argentina, announced Friday the Egyptian trade minister on Friday.

• Saturday, July 31st 2010 - 19:00 UTC

  China overtakes Japan as world’s second largest economy, says Beijing

  

  China has overtaken Japan to become the world's second-largest economy behind the United States, the country's chief currency regulator and vice-governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said this week.

• Saturday, July 31st 2010 - 05:26 UTC

  Record unemployment in Spain reaches 20.09%, highest since 1997

  

  Spain’s unemployment rate already the highest in the Euro region rose to the most in more than a decade in the second quarter: 20.09% up from 20.05% in the first quarter, according to the country’s National Statistics Institute. This is the highest since 1997.

• Saturday, July 31st 2010 - 05:23 UTC

  Brutal slaughter of pilot whales in Denmark’s Faroe Islands

  

  The disembowelled bodies of brutally slaughtered whales line a dockside just 230 miles from Britain - as families with children wander among them, according to a report from The Sun.

• Saturday, July 31st 2010 - 05:11 UTC

  The 3.000 pax Celebrity Eclipse on her inaugural cruise to Gibraltar

  

  An introductory plaque exchange ceremony took place on the new cruise liner Celebrity Eclipse when she made her inaugural call to Gibraltar this week.

• Friday, July 30th 2010 - 06:05 UTC

  NZ Trade Minister shares in Uruguay dairy farming could cost him the job

  

  The financial dealings of New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser are under scrutiny amid revelations he owns thousands of shares in a Uruguayan-based dairy company that he actively promotes as part of his job, according to the NZ press.

• Friday, July 30th 2010 - 06:00 UTC

  Citibank agrees fine to settle charges it misled investors with high risk mortgages

  

  Banking giant Citigroup has agreed to pay 75 million US dollars to settle civil charges that it misled investors over potential losses from high-risk mortgages. It agreed the settlement with US financial watchdog the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

• Friday, July 30th 2010 - 03:36 UTC

  Berlusconi selling his Sardinia “love nest” for 450 million Euro

  

  Italian Primer Minister Silvio Berlusconi is selling his ostentatious Villa Certosa in the island of Sardinia very much celebrated for some of the controversial private parties with prostitutes and teenagers he organized and were widely captured on film.

• Friday, July 30th 2010 - 02:57 UTC

  International air traffic showed strong recovery in June said IATA

  

  International air passenger demand (particularly China and Latinamerica) and freight showed a strong improvement during June compared to a year ago according to the latest traffic international statistics released by the International Air Transport Association, IATA.

• Thursday, July 29th 2010 - 05:43 UTC

  UN General Assembly declare access to clean water a human right

  

  Safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights, the General Assembly declared Wednesday, voicing deep concern that almost 900 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water.