International

• Wednesday, February 3rd 2016 - 07:23 UTC

  Argentina agrees to pay Italian bond holders including “a reasonable interest”

  

  Argentina announced Tuesday that it reached a $900 million preliminary accord to settle its pending debt with 50,000 Italian holders of defaulted Argentine government bonds. Finance minister Alfonso Prat-Gay said that the agreement with Italian bondholders includes the Argentine government's acknowledgement of the debt “and reasonable interest”.

• Wednesday, February 3rd 2016 - 05:52 UTC

  Norway's Statoil confirms interest in Uruguay's offshore potential, acquires 15% of exploration block

  

  Norway's Statoil giant announced on Tuesday an agreement with French Total to acquire a 15% working interest in an offshore exploration block in Uruguay's continental shelf. The announcement comes only weeks before Total is preparing to drill its first exploratory well in Uruguayan waters.

• Wednesday, February 3rd 2016 - 05:38 UTC

  BP reported its biggest annual lost and announced 7.000 job cuts

  

  BP slumped to its biggest annual loss last year and announced thousands more job cuts on Tuesday, showing that even one of the nimblest oil producers is struggling in the worst market downturn in over a decade.

• Wednesday, February 3rd 2016 - 05:14 UTC

  Four MPs expected in the Falklands next week: two Tories and two Labour

  

  A group of four Members of Parliament from Britain will be visiting the Falkland Islands as guests of FIG from February 11-16, accompanied by Sukey Cameron MBE, from the Falkland Islands Government Office in London.

• Tuesday, February 2nd 2016 - 11:59 UTC

  FIFA puts Conmebol and Concacaf funding 'on hold' given 'current proceedings'

  

  FIFA has cut off funding to the corruption-hit confederations for football in the Americas, the global football body said on Monday, in a move which could cause future cash flow problems for the two organizations.

• Tuesday, February 2nd 2016 - 06:05 UTC

  Zika virus declared an international public health emergency

  

  The World Health Organization has declared the mosquito-borne Zika virus to be an international public health emergency due to its link to thousands of suspected cases of birth defects in Brazil.

• Tuesday, February 2nd 2016 - 05:58 UTC

  Raul Castro received in Paris with full honors; Hollande calls for an end of US sanctions on Cuba

  

  French President Francois Hollande called Monday for an end to US sanctions on Cuba during a historic visit to Paris by President Raul Castro, seen as a key step in rebuilding ties with the West.

• Monday, February 1st 2016 - 09:36 UTC

  China's manufacturing contracts for sixth month running in January

  

  Activity in China's manufacturing sector contracted for the sixth month in a row in January - and hit its lowest level since 2012. According to the government's latest factory survey, the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) showed a reading of 49.4 for the month compared to December's reading of 49.7.

• Monday, February 1st 2016 - 07:00 UTC

  Spanish scientists analyze European and veined squid diets

  

  A group of Spanish scientists has analyzed for the first time the European and veined squid diet in the Mediterranean. European squid (Loligo vulgaris) and veined squid (Loligo forbesii) are two morphologically nearly identical species that inhabit the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean.

• Monday, February 1st 2016 - 06:32 UTC

  EU and Cameron optimistic a deal on UK's relationship could be reached this week

  

  European Council president Donald Tusk left a meeting on Sunday evening with Prime Minister David Cameron declaring there is “no deal” yet over a renegotiation of the UK's relationship with the EU. It had been planned that any proposed deal could be put to other EU leaders on Monday, ahead of a February summit.