International

• Monday, May 5th 2014 - 06:52 UTC

  London concerned Spanish actions against Gibraltar are damaging bilateral relations

  

  The British Government has again voiced public concern that Spanish actions against Gibraltar are damaging its bilateral relationship with Spain. In a response to a parliamentary question in the House of Commons, Europe Minister David Lidington said Britain was keeping its options open on how to respond to Spain.

• Monday, May 5th 2014 - 06:47 UTC

  West will never go to war over non-NATO Ukraine

  

  By Gwynne Dyer - With due apologies to God, Voltaire and the Ukrainians, I must point out that if Ukraine did not exist, it would not be necessary to invent it.It is not a great power, it has no resources the world cannot do without, and it is not a “vital strategic interest” to anybody except the Ukrainians. Not even to the Russians, although they are acting at the moment as though it were.

• Monday, May 5th 2014 - 06:42 UTC

  Foreign tourists in Britain expected to spend 46 billion dollars by 2017

  

  Spending by foreign tourists in Britain is set to rise 34% to over 27 billion pounds (46 billion dollars) a year by 2017, according to research published on Friday, boosting the country's retail and leisure industries.

• Monday, May 5th 2014 - 06:31 UTC

  Mosquito transmitted Chikungunya has become an epidemic in the Caribbean

  

  The head of the Caribbean Public Health Authority (CARPHA), Dr James Hospedales, has declared the Chikungunya virus has reached epidemic proportions in the Caribbean. The mosquito-borne illness was first detected in the Caribbean in December 2013, in St Martin, and last week Antigua and St Vincent and the Grenadines became the latest countries to declare an outbreak.

• Sunday, May 4th 2014 - 13:52 UTC

  Bacteria antibiotic resistance is winning the day and a major threat to public health

  

  A new report by WHO–its first to look at antimicrobial resistance, including antibiotic resistance, globally–reveals that this serious threat is no longer a prediction for the future, it is happening right now in every region of the world and has the potential to affect anyone, of any age, in any country.

• Saturday, May 3rd 2014 - 06:18 UTC

  Uruguay interested in joining negotiations to liberalize trade in services

  

  Uruguay has expressed an interest in actively participating in negotiations to liberalize trade in services in the framework of TISA, Trade in Services Agreement which recently held its seventh round of talks in Geneva.

• Saturday, May 3rd 2014 - 06:11 UTC

  Cristina's YPF curse: Brufau steps down as CEO of Repsol

  

  Repsol, the Spanish oil company, announced this week that its longstanding executive chairman, Antonio Brufau, would hand over the job of chief executive to Josu Jon Imaz San Miguel, who has been running the company’s upstream operations.

• Saturday, May 3rd 2014 - 05:48 UTC

  President Putin re-editing Soviet-Stalin Russia calendar and traditions

  

  Russia staged a huge May Day parade on Moscow's Red Square for the first time since the Soviet era with workers holding banners proclaiming support for President Vladimir Putin after the seizure of territory from neighboring Ukraine.

• Saturday, May 3rd 2014 - 05:43 UTC

  Pope says Vatican finances must be transparent and aimed at helping the needy

  

  Vatican administrators need a “change of mentality” and must ensure that the Holy See's finances are efficient, transparent and primarily aimed at helping the most needy, Pope Francis said on Friday.

• Saturday, May 3rd 2014 - 05:39 UTC

  Spain's economy shows timid performance but unemployment remains at 26%

  

  Spain's economy expanded by 0.4% in the first quarter of the year topping the previous quarter's growth rate by two-tenths of a point, the National Statistics Institute, INE, confirmed. However unemployment remains at a record 25.93%.