International

• Saturday, December 24th 2016 - 18:59 UTC

  Khaddafi followers hijack Lybian airliner, divert it to Malta and surrender

  

  Using fake guns, two men Friday hijacked an Afriqiyah Airways flight on service from Libya’s southwestern city of Sabha to the capital, Tripoli with 111 passengers (82 men, 28 women and a child) and seven crew members on board., and forced it to fly to Malta, where they surrendered after four hours of negotiations.

• Saturday, December 24th 2016 - 18:30 UTC

  Merkel now wants immigration less easy following Berlin's terrorist attack

  

  Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday vowed to reinforce immigration controls and security natiowide following a terrorist attack at a Christmas market in Berlin that left 12 people dead, for which ISIS has claimed responsibility.

• Saturday, December 24th 2016 - 17:50 UTC

  UK and Brazil agree on a Business Dialogue to address commercial and political issues

  

  The United Kingdom and Brazil announced the creation of the Anglo-Brazilian Business Dialogue, which aims to establish a bilateral business dialogue to address commercial and political issues affecting UK and Brazilian companies in their respective markets and to refer them to the upper echelons of both governments. This was achieved during the recent visit to Brazil of Liam Fox, British Secretary of State for International Trade

• Friday, December 23rd 2016 - 15:23 UTC

  Anis Amri shot dead by Italian police

  

  The Tunisian suspect who quickly became Europe's most wanted alleged criminal for his involvement in Monday's lorry jihadist attack against a Christmas market in Berlin, was killed Friday in a shootout with the police in Milan, the Italian interior minister has confirmed.

• Friday, December 23rd 2016 - 05:24 UTC

  Aleppo under total Syrian control

  

  The last buses that took part in the evacuation of residents from eastern Aleppo finally left the city late on Thursday night after long delays due to extremely cold weather, as Syria's industrial capital was completely in the hands of President Bashar al-Assad's forces for the first time since 2012, it was reported.

• Friday, December 23rd 2016 - 04:50 UTC

  Known Tunisian jihadist main suspect in Berlin lorry attack

  

  After it became clear that the main suspect of driving the lorry that killed 11 people Monday in a Christmas market in Berlin was a 24-year-old Tunisian with a criminal record as a jihadist, Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her hopes that the alleged perpetrator, currently at large, is brought to justice as soon as possible.

• Friday, December 23rd 2016 - 03:20 UTC

  UK resolutely committed to Falklands' self determination; better relations with Argentina is in everyone's interests

  

  The United Kingdom is resolutely committed to the Islanders right to self determination assured the Prime Minister Theresa May in her Christmas message to the Falklands. Mrs. May also pointed out that a better relationship with Argentina is in everyone’s interests, and in time, this should reap the rewards through benefits to the Islands' economy, improving trade and tourism, and developing the hydrocarbons and fisheries industries.<br /><br />
  The full message from Mrs. May published in this week's Penguin News, follows:

• Friday, December 23rd 2016 - 01:27 UTC

  Extreme right in Europe target Merkel's refugees policy for the Berlin truck attack

  

  Germany’s anti-immigrant party led a populist chorus from around Europe in pinning the blame for the Berlin truck attack on the policies of Angela Merkel. The Chancellor's acceptance of more than a million Middle Eastern refugees last year set the scene for an Islamist massacre on German soil, Alternative for Germany (AfD) claimed.

• Friday, December 23rd 2016 - 01:07 UTC

  Russia, Iran and Turkey work on a deal to end Syrian civil war and fight terrorism

  

  Russia, Iran and Turkey agree that the priority in Syria is fighting “terrorism” and not the removal of Bashar al-Assad, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters after a tripartite summit on Tuesday in Moscow. Lavrov welcomed Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to the Russian capital for talks on the Syrian conflict as the evacuation of the last rebel-held enclave in Aleppo continued.

• Friday, December 23rd 2016 - 00:25 UTC

  Greek present for Trump: Obama and Trudeau ban offshore oil and gas drilling in Atlantic and Arctic waters

  

  In the final stretch of his term President Barack Obama is implementing new environmental protections that stand to thwart Donald Trump's agenda on oil and gas extraction in ways that may prove difficult for the president-elect to roll back. The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it will place an indefinite ban on offshore oil and gas drilling across large swaths of Atlantic and Arctic waters.