International

• Thursday, January 9th 2014 - 18:45 UTC

  Violence threatens to thwart Iraqi oil resurgence

  

  By Nicholas Cunningham - A wave of violence has swept parts of Iraq at the start of 2014 as the central government fights back against Al-Qaeda aligned militants in Anbar Province. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) reportedly took control of Ramadi and Fallujah, bombing police headquarters and killing dozens.

• Thursday, January 9th 2014 - 15:03 UTC

  Active online poll from “The Telegraph” shows Falklands should be under Argentine sovereignty

  

  According to an active online poll released in the British newspaper “The Daily Telegraph”, a clear majority, almost double, of the voters affirmed that the Falklands Islands should be under Argentina’s sovereignty. Almost half the majority of respondents rejected the idea and supported Britain, while the rest answered that the territory should be under “shared sovereignty.”

• Thursday, January 9th 2014 - 07:05 UTC

  Police acted lawfully when they shot a man whose death triggered London's 2011 rioting

  

  British inquest found that police acted lawfully when they shot and killed a man whose death sparked a wave of rioting in 2011 in the worst civil unrest in the country in decades. Mark Duggan, 29, died after he was shot by police who suspected he was armed at the time.

• Wednesday, January 8th 2014 - 21:21 UTC

  Visit Britain thinks Germans are rude, Australians intolerant and Russians cold

  

  VisitBritain, the UK government’s agency with a budget of nearly £30 million a year and tasked with bringing as many visitors to the UK as possible, releases a detailed inside guide on tourists from most destinations for use by British hoteliers and operators.

• Wednesday, January 8th 2014 - 20:59 UTC

  Gibraltar/La Linea unions and business groups call for free flow of persons across the border

  

  Gibraltarian and Spanish unions and business organizations on Tuesday called on their respective governments to act and implement measures that will guarantee the free flow of persons across the border. In a memorandum that will be sent to the European Commission and the European Parliament, the cross-border group expressed its “absolute aversion” to the current situation at the frontier, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.

• Wednesday, January 8th 2014 - 05:58 UTC

  Germany's Wintershall joins Patagonia's Vaca Muerta shale gas and oil rush

  

  Germany's Wintershall signed on Tuesday a farm-in contract with the Argentine Patagonia province of Neuquén to explore Vaca Muerta’s shale gas and oil field. Under the terms of the joint-venture agreement Wintershall together with Gas & Petroleo de Neuquen will explore and develop the Aguada Federal block and are committed to invest 80 million Euros.

• Tuesday, January 7th 2014 - 23:58 UTC

  Record 496 Spanish incursions into Gibraltar waters, says the Foreign Office

  

  The Sunday Telegraph reported a record number of Spanish incursions into Gibraltar waters last year, but its calculations in fact fell short of the final total, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.

• Tuesday, January 7th 2014 - 23:48 UTC

  Earth's gassy twin has been discovered in another solar system 200 light years away

  

  Earth’s gassy twin has been discovered in another solar system 200 light years away. The planet, known as KOI-314c, weighs the same as the Earth but is 60% larger, leading scientists to suspect it has a thick gaseous atmosphere.

• Tuesday, January 7th 2014 - 06:09 UTC

  Main threat to world economy in 2014 is not the Euro-zone but China, says Soros

  

  George Soros says stop worrying about the Euro-zone and look at the slower growth in China. The hedge fund boss, who built his fortune betting on the world’s money markets, is concerned that twenty years of rapid growth is about to run out of steam.

• Monday, January 6th 2014 - 19:47 UTC

  Merkel fractures her pelvis skiing and calls off foreign visits

  

  German Chancellor Angela Merkel has fractured her pelvis in a cross-country skiing accident and is walking with the help of crutches, forcing her to call off some foreign visits and official appointments, her spokesman has said.