The British Overseas Territory of Ascension Island is set to become a marine reserve almost as big as the UK, the British government has announced. Using a £300,000 grant from the Bacon Foundation, the UK government will close 52.6% of the south Atlantic island's waters to fishing. In the rest of the waters there will be a monitored tuna fishery.
By David Cameron - This year’s 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare is not just an opportunity to commemorate one of the greatest playwrights of all time. It is a moment to celebrate the extraordinary ongoing influence of a man who – to borrow from his own description of Julius Caesar – “doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus.”
Argentina's January 3rd. statement on the Falkland Islands dispute claiming sovereignty and calling for dialogue with the United Kingdom has received a low key but strong response from the Foreign Office, according to the Mail on line.
Saudi Arabia says it has broken off diplomatic ties with Iran, amid a row over the Saudi execution of a prominent Shia Muslim cleric. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir was speaking after demonstrators had stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran.
Sixty-seven journalists were killed globally this year, either targeted because of their work or dying while reporting, Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers, RSF, said in its annual report. Some 27 citizen (amateur) journalists and seven media workers were also killed.
The world's first seafloor massive sulfide mining project contract has been signed between Nautilus Minerals Inc, a mining company with headquarters in Canada and Tongling Nonferrous metals group, a state owned Chinese company.
By Gwynne Dyer -The climate deal that almost 200 countries agreed to in Paris was far better than most insiders dared to hope even one month ago. The biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, China and the United States, are finally on board. There is real money on the table to help poor countries cut their emissions and cope with warming.
Business is business, so why not buy oil from ISIS. The Russians claim the Turks are doing it, and in all likelihood even Assad is buying it. No one can fight a war without oil, according to Robert Bensh, partner and managing director of Pelicourt LLC oil and gas company.
Earlier this year, researchers sparked a debate by suggesting that random cell mutations, rather than lifestyle choices, played a significant role in the development of tumors, a finding dubbed the “bad luck hypothesis.” A new study has nevertheless led scientists to believe that external influences have a far greater impact, implying that many cancers may be more preventable than previously thought.
Canada finally made official the opening of its market to Argentine boneless beef, both fresh and frozen. This happens after thirteen years of negotiations, according to an end of the year release from the Argentine ministries of foreign affairs and agriculture and livestock, and the Argentine animal sanitary office. The decision became effective last 17 December.