International

• Tuesday, December 15th 2015 - 06:56 UTC

  Spain's electoral debate dominated by corruption accusations

  

  Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was accused of being unfit to govern by his socialist challenger Pedro Sanchez on Monday night in an unusually ferocious election debate held before this week's general election. Sanchez performance makes him a first line contender for highest office in Spain, even if Rajoy's party as forecasted wins the election

• Tuesday, December 15th 2015 - 06:41 UTC

  Spain's Rajoy expected to win next Sunday's election but without a majority

  

  The latest surveys on the Spanish legislative elections to be held next Sunday, predict a victory for the ruling center-right People's Party, or PP, but without an absolute majority, so the party will have to form a coalition to establish a government.

• Tuesday, December 15th 2015 - 06:23 UTC

  Paris climate agreement triggers praise for French diplomacy and minister Fabius

  

  France seems to have achieved an unachievable triumph: uniting the world to seal a global climate pact. The Paris climate agreement, adopted on Saturday, was the culmination of more than a year of intense diplomatic efforts by France. Delegates and foreign dignitaries cheered Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, the host of the two-week talks, and gave him a standing ovation.

• Monday, December 14th 2015 - 07:07 UTC

  Sarkozy conservatives take the day beating Le Pen's National Front

  

  Marine Le Pen's far-right National Front failed to take a single region during the runoff of regional elections after dominating the first round of voting, pollsters projected. The conservatives of former president Nicolas Sarkozy surged against the governing Socialists, changing the political map of France.

• Saturday, December 12th 2015 - 07:03 UTC

  US crude futures trade at $35, lowest since February 2009; in one week price dropped 10%

  

  United States crude futures fell sharply on Friday plunging below $36 a barrel for the first time in more than seven years, after a bearish report from the International Energy Agency projected that global energy markets will remain vastly oversupplied for at least the immediate near future.

• Saturday, December 12th 2015 - 04:18 UTC

  “Mama Merkel” or Euro-zone “austerity priestess”, the German chancellor is Time's person of the year

  

  Time magazine named German Chancellor Angela Merkel as its person of the year for 2015, hailing her leadership during debt and refugee crises that threatened to tear the European Union apart. In power for a decade at the helm of Europe's biggest economy, the world's most powerful woman beat runners-up, the leader of the Islamic State extremist group and Donald Trump as Time's dominant personality of the year.

• Saturday, December 12th 2015 - 04:09 UTC

  Infantino will lead UEFA's Euro 2016 draw in Paris; Platini's 90 day ban stands

  

  Michel Platini cannot take part in UEFA’s Euro 2016 draw in Paris on Saturday after losing his appeal against a 90-day FIFA ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The decision Friday means he also won’t be able to participate in the UEFA Executive Committee meeting before the draw.

• Friday, December 11th 2015 - 08:22 UTC

  “Obviously we will stand by all our sovereign claims”, anticipated Macri

  

  Argentine president Mauricio Macri outlined on Thursday his administration's foreign policy during the message to Congress when he stressed, with an overall non specific commitment, “we believe in the unity and cooperation of Latin America and the world”, and in strengthening democracy as the only possibility to solving the problems of diverse societies.

• Friday, December 11th 2015 - 07:47 UTC

  Ban Ki-moon message on Human Rights Day

  

  Amid large-scale atrocities and widespread abuses across the world, Human Rights Day should rally more concerted global action to promote the timeless principles that we have collectively pledged to uphold.

• Friday, December 11th 2015 - 07:24 UTC

  Welcome Mauricio! But what exactly are your plans?

  

  By Graham Bound, London - Mauricio Macri: I roll the syllables of that rather pleasantly alliterative name over my tongue as I draw him into one of my columns for the first time.