
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.

President Mauricio Macri's government reaffirmed on Sunday, 3 January, Argentina's sovereignty rights over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands on the 183 anniversary of the 'British occupation of the archipelago' in the South Atlantic, and called for dialogue with the United Kingdom. In a statement published in the Foreign Ministry site it said that “Argentina renews its commitment to the peaceful solution of controversies, to international law to and multilateralism”.

Spain's Socialist party ruled out forming a new government with any party that supported a referendum on independence in Catalonia, a stand that prolongs political uncertainty after this month's inconclusive national election.

Swiss authorities have handed over the first round of bank documents seized in their FIFA corruption investigation to U.S. prosecutors on Wednesday. The Federal Office of Justice in Switzerland says the documents relate to “bank accounts allegedly used for bribes connected with the grant of marketing rights to soccer tournaments in Latin America and the USA.”

Creditors suing Argentina over billions of dollars in defaulted bonds have subpoenaed HSBC Holdings Plc for information about the country's effort to raise money abroad, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, as reported by Reuters.

Global economic growth will be disappointing and patchy in 2016, the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, wrote in an article published in the German business daily Handelsblatt on Wednesday.

The Spanish manager of equity Portobello Capital has bought a majority stake in Iberconsa (Iberica de Congelados), the third company in the sector in Spain and the first one to capture and produce frozen hake on board.