
China’s central bank raised reserve requirements for lenders 10 days after boosting interest rates as Premier Wen Jiabao tackles accelerating inflation and the risk of asset bubbles in the fastest-growing major economy.

The Central Bank of Chile (CBC) hiked interest rates by 25bps to 3.5% on Thursday night targeting growing economic imbalances and the threat of higher inflation, reports Capital Economics latest update.

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos said this week that military forces know the exact hiding place and movements of the FARC guerrilla maximum leader, Alfonso Cano, and brushed aside any chance that he might escape.

UK and Spain's foreign ministers reaffirmed Thursday their commitment to the Tripartite Forum (UK/Spain/Gibralar) for Dialogue following a bilateral meeting in London, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.

The benefit of encouraging opinion makers to visit the Falklands was demonstrated when an article translated as “Petrol sets the Falklands on fire” appeared on the website lanacion.cl, written by recent visitor and Chilean writer and journalist, Raúl Sohr.

The European Court of Auditors has called on the European Commission to assess the high risks involved, including corruption, when large sums of EC aid are channelled directly through public budgets in developing countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Ecuador's constitutional Court approved this week a 10-question referendum that will let voters decide whether to ban gambling and bullfighting but also ask them to boost President Rafael Correa's power over the judiciary.

Having pushed through a strong safeguard clause to protect European industry and received guarantees from Seoul that the new Korean legislation on car CO2 emission limits would not be detrimental to European car makers, the Parliament on gave its consent to the most ambitious trade agreement the EU has ever negotiated.

The International Monetary Fund will warn G20 finance ministers this weekend of growing risks to the world economy from surging food prices and public finances while also advocating a somewhat weaker dollar.

Paraguay expressed deep concern about “Brazilian dominance” in South America, reveals a diplomatic cable exposed by Wikileaks and reproduced this week by the Brazilian portal ‘Opera Mundi’.