Category: News Desk

Sudan Threatens to Freeze Oil Deals with South


Sudan on Sunday threatened to put on hold nine security and economic pacts with South Sudan, including one on vital oil shipments, if its neighbour continues its alleged support for rebel groups.

Sudan’s President Umar al-Bashir over the weekend accused his neighbour of arming the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North group in his territory and ordered the closure of pipelines carrying oil from the landlocked South through his country to Port Sudan on the Red Sea – currently the South’s only export route.

US-China Hail “Constructive” Summit


U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have ended a two-day summit described by a U.S. official as “unique, positive and constructive”, even as neither side gave details of any new ground broken on the most contentious issues in the relationship which include alleged Chinese cyber espionage and China’s aggression in the disputed waters of Asia.

Key Economic News to Watch This Week: June 10


This Week: Protestors target banks, hedge funds and other financial institutions in London ahead of the G8 Summit next week, while Iran holds a presidential election to find a successor to firebrand Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Monday, June 10            

The US-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar, discusses the security of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the relationship between political reform and development, and the Syrian crisis.

EU, IMF Clash Over Botched Handling of Greek Bailout


The European Commission on Thursday said it fundamentally disagrees with an International Monetary Fund report that places much of the blame for Greece’s botched first bailout on Europe, rejecting criticism that the EU should have consented earlier to a restructuring of Greek debt.

In an internal report released on Wednesday, the IMF said there had been “notable failures” in the way Greece’s 240 billion euro ($310 billion) bailout was handled, admitting that it had underestimated how much austerity measures would worsen the country’s economic plight.

S&P Cuts Brazil Outlook to Negative on Sluggish Growth


Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s cut Latin America’s largest economy’s outlook from stable to negative on Thursday, citing slugging economic growth and an expansionary fiscal policy that could lead to an increase in the government’s overall debt levels.

Global Food Prices to Rise 40% in Coming Decade


Rising global food demand will push prices up 15 to 40 percent over the coming decade as consumption outpaces production growth said the United Nation’s food agency and the OECD on Thursday, warning that governments will have to increase investment in agriculture to boost food security.

SEC To Tighten Regulation on Money-Market Funds


The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission took a long-awaited step to reduce risk in the $2.6 trillion money-market mutual-fund industry, voting unanimously on Wednesday to move forward with a proposal that could force some money market funds to abandon the fixed value of $1 a share that has made them so popular with many investors.

The SEC’s proposal would require “prime” funds held by corporate treasurers and other institutional investors to abandon their fixed $1 share price, allowing the funds’ prices to float like those of other mutual funds.

IMF Admits to “Notable Failures” in Greece Bailout


In a scathing internal self-assessment of its handling of the 2010 Greece bailout, the International Monetary Fund said Greece’s recession and unemployment problems were more severe than anticipated and admitted to putting the eurozone and the euro’s safety before the interests of Athens.

Apple Products Banned in US after Court Rules It Violates Rival Samsung’s Patents


The U.S. International Trade Commission on Tuesday ruled that Apple violated rival Samsung’s patent covering technology used to send information over wireless networks, a ruling that could see some of its Apple’s earlier iPhone and iPad models banned from sale in the United States.

Unless vetoed by President Barack Obama or blocked by a federal appeals court, the independent ruling would bar the importation of AT&T variants of the iPhone 4, 3GS and 3G, as well as the original iPad and iPad 2 which run on the second-largest American mobile network.

China Opens Anti-Dumping Investigations into European Wine


In a retaliatory move against fresh EU punitive duties on Chinese solar panels, Beijing on Wednesday announced it will launch an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy probe against wine imported from the EU in a dramatic escalation of the widening trade dispute.

The decision comes a day after the European Union announced it would levy an initial average tariff of 11.8 percent on Chinese solar panel imports from Thursday, rising to 47.6 percent on August 6 in the absence of negotiations based on a Chinese commitment to address the problem.