Japan’s outspoken Finance minister and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso said that the Japanese government needs to make it clear that they intend to defend the Senkaku Islands from whatever invading force. This is to avoid what happened to the Falkland Islands when Argentine troops triggered a war with British forces by landing on the disputed islands in 1982.
The Royal Navy HMS Argyll on the last weeks of its South Atlantic deployment and on route back to Davenport completed an intense period of counter-narcotics operations in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
A court hearing in New York scheduled for Thursday midday between hedge funds holders of Argentine defaulted bond and lawyers for the Argentine government was called off on request from the holdouts.
China Petrochemical Corporation, Sinopec, has agreed to buy a 33% stake in the Egyptian oil and gas business of US firm Apache Corporation. Sinopec will pay Apache 3.1bn dollars in cash for the stake. The deal is the latest in a series of similar moves by Chinese oil firms as they look to secure energy supplies to meet growing domestic demand.
British MPs have rejected possible UK military action against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government to deter the use of chemical weapons. A government motion was defeated by 285 to 272, a majority of 13 votes.
On 17 July, Nicaragua announced that US-based Noble Energy would invest 30 million dollars in drilling two offshore wells in the Caribbean—launching Nicaragua's first-ever oil exploration.
Mexico was selected to be the official host country for World Tourism Day (WTD) 2014 and Burkina Faso for WTD 2015. The respective themes will be “Tourism and Community Development” for 2014, and “One billion tourists, one billion opportunities” for 2015
China's foreign minister urged restraint in the growing tensions over Syria, saying any military intervention in the crisis would only worsen turmoil in the Middle East. China all along has tried to maintain a neutral position on the issue, not accompanying the West’s intentions of imposing sanctions to Syria but calling on Damascus to begin talking with the rebels.
Gibraltar will sidestep an ‘illegal’ Spanish ban on overland cross-border shipments of rock, sand and aggregates by shipping the vital building materials in by sea. The ban was announced at the weekend by the Spanish authorities, which are denying export permission for these commodities and say they are being used to reclaim land in breach of EU environmental rules.
Australia Livestock Health and Pest Authorities (LHPA) are encouraging all sheep producers to test their rams for ovine brucellosis, following recent positive tests that the disease might be spreading throughout the country.