International

• Saturday, January 16th 2016 - 10:05 UTC

  St Helena and its new airport get ready for tourism take-off

  

  The Guardian Weekly has published a piece on prospects for St Helena with the opening of its international airport, most probably next May, and which is expected to turn the mid Atlantic's island economy, particularly with tourism, since none less that Napoleon Bonaparte spent his last years until his death, almost two centuries ago.

• Saturday, January 16th 2016 - 07:37 UTC

  Migration to foreign countries surged 41% in the last 15 years, says UN report

  

  The number of people who migrated to foreign countries surged by 41% in the last 15 years to reach 244 million in 2015, according to a United Nations study released this week. Of those people, 20 million are refugees.

• Saturday, January 16th 2016 - 07:32 UTC

  UK confident of positive side for Gibraltar of Spanish royal family visit to UK

  

  The visit by the Spanish Royal family to the United Kingdom, scheduled for March, will celebrate and strengthen the ties between both countries. This according to the British Ambassador in Madrid, Simon Manley, who highlighted the existing co-operation between the law enforcement agencies in Spain and Gibraltar.

• Friday, January 15th 2016 - 12:09 UTC

  FIFA fines federations for homophobic remarks from fans, including Argentina, Chile and Uruguay

  

  Anti-gay chants by fans have led to fines for six football associations. Match reports revealed that fans of Argentina, Chile, Honduras, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay yelled homophobic remarks during qualifying matches for the 2018 World Cup.

• Friday, January 15th 2016 - 12:04 UTC

  Fiat-Chrysler faces allegations of encouraging dealers to inflate monthly sales

  

  Italian-American carmaker Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is denying allegations that it encouraged dealers to inflate monthly sales. The car company is being sued by a US dealer who says it encouraged dealerships to lie about monthly car sales.

• Friday, January 15th 2016 - 07:57 UTC

  Renault passes 'surprise VW emissions scam test', but impact is felt on shares

  

  Shares in French carmaker Renault plunged 20%, before recovering to close 10.3% lower, after police raids on the company's facilities. The firm confirmed the raids took place last week and said investigators wanted to check equipment at its factories.

• Friday, January 15th 2016 - 07:49 UTC

  Al Jazeera America announces end of cable TV and digital operations in US by April 30

  

  Al Jazeera America will shutter its cable TV and digital operations by April 30 of this year, the company announced on Wednesday. The decision by the AJAM board was “driven by the fact that our business model is simply not sustainable in light of the economic challenges in the U.S. media marketplace,” said AJAM CEO Al Anstey.

• Friday, January 15th 2016 - 07:31 UTC

  Departing Spanish minister joins Argentine bandwagon claiming 'Malvinas dialogue'

  

  Spanish Foreign Secretary Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo has delivered what could possibly be his last comment on Spain’s claim to Gibraltar’s sovereignty in his current role. The official has jumped on the bandwagon of a new Argentine platform seeking international support for the return of the Falkland Islands and urging UK to agree to bilateral talks over Gibraltar’s sovereignty.

• Thursday, January 14th 2016 - 06:54 UTC

  Argentina needs to reach an agreement with holdouts, insists Prat-Gay

  

  Argentina's new finance minister said on Wednesday it was imperative to resolve the country's legal dispute with U.S. creditors over unpaid debt because financing of the country's fiscal deficit this year may depend on progress on the issue.

• Thursday, January 14th 2016 - 06:33 UTC

  Socialist becomes Spain's parliament speaker; no agreement yet on new government

  

  Spain's parliament held its first session Wednesday, with lawmakers from four main parties taking their seats at a time of political turmoil. Lawmakers picked a Socialist, Patxi Lopez, a former head of the regional government of the northern Basque Country, as parliamentary speaker, in the first pact between rival parties still engaged in talks to form a government since last month's inconclusive election.