International

• Wednesday, April 14th 2010 - 20:47 UTC

  EU warns Portugal is in danger zone: must adopt tougher deficit cuts

  

  The European Union said Portugal may need further budget measures this year to meet its deficit- cutting targets, as the pace of economic growth contributes to investor concern about contagion from Greece’s fiscal crisis.

• Wednesday, April 14th 2010 - 20:35 UTC

  South Atlantic Royal Navy nuclear powered sub en route to be decommissioned

  

  After a shorter than expected stay in South Africa’s Cape Town, the Royal Navy nuclear-powered, but conventionally armed, fleet submarine HMS Sceptre (S104) departed from Simon's Town naval base having only spent five days in port.

• Wednesday, April 14th 2010 - 07:59 UTC

  “We are building a global role for Argentina”, says CFK after meeting Obama

  

  “We are building a global role for Argentina that it did not have until now” said Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK) following a meeting with US President Barack Obama Tuesday in the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit.

• Wednesday, April 14th 2010 - 01:26 UTC

  Brazil believes the Chinese currency will appreciate “a bit more” this year

  

  China may let the Yuan gain “a bit more” within 12 months as the world’s third-largest economy moves away from a currency policy that creates distortions, Brazilian central bank President Henrique Meirelles said.

• Tuesday, April 13th 2010 - 23:58 UTC

  China will reform exchange rate regime at “its own time and needs”

  

  Chinese President Hu Jintao has resisted pressure from US President Obama to raise the value of the Chinese Yuan. He told Mr Obama that it would “neither balance Sino-US trade nor solve the US unemployment problem”, Chinese official news agency Xinhua reported.

• Tuesday, April 13th 2010 - 23:55 UTC

  Chinese company buys further into Canada’s oil-sands

  

  China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, Sinopec more than doubled China's presence in Canada’s oil-sands by paying 4.65 billion US dollars for US for ConocoPhillips' 9% stake in Syncrude Canada Ltd.

• Tuesday, April 13th 2010 - 23:52 UTC

  Rebound in exports helps to narrow UK trade deficit in February

  

  A rebound in exports helped to narrow the UK trade deficit in February, official figures have shown. The trade deficit in goods and services shrank to £2.1bn, down from a £3.9bn deficit in January.

• Tuesday, April 13th 2010 - 23:48 UTC

  High liquidity and capital flows impact on non crisis countries admits IMF

  

  The unprecedented liquidity created by countries to fight the economic crisis could create problems for policymakers in some advanced and emerging market economies with relatively strong growth prospects and higher interest rates, the International Monetary Fund said in a new report.

• Tuesday, April 13th 2010 - 02:41 UTC

  IMF boosts new emergency lending facility ten fold to 550 billion USD

  

  The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved Monday a ten-fold expansion of the Fund’s New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) and the transformation of the Fund’s premier standing credit arrangement into a more flexible and effective tool of crisis management.

• Tuesday, April 13th 2010 - 02:35 UTC

  Polish tragedy marks European Union first day of official mourning

  

  Russia and the European Union marked Monday an official day of mourning as Poland observes a week of commemoration following the deaths of President Lech Kaczynski, the first lady, and dozens of senior Polish leaders and military officials in a plane crash in Russia on Saturday.