International

• Thursday, January 8th 2015 - 06:28 UTC

  Euro zone inflation turns negative putting more pressure for ECB stimulus

  

  Inflation in the Euro-zone has turned negative, official figures have shown, with prices in December 0.2% lower than the same month a year earlier. The tip into deflation adds pressure on the European Central Bank (ECB) to take further action to stimulate the bloc's economy.

• Thursday, January 8th 2015 - 05:34 UTC

  Maduro announces 20bn dollars in investment credits from China

  

  President Nicolas Maduro said on Wednesday he had secured a total of more than 20 billion dollars in investment from major creditor China for economic, social, and oil-related projects.

• Thursday, January 8th 2015 - 05:21 UTC

  Fears in Europe of violent retaliation and Islamophobia following Paris killings

  

  The terror attack that killed 12 people in Paris on Wednesday will have come as little surprise to Europe's police and intelligence services. For months, they've regarded the prospect of a mass killing in Europe by isolated gunmen or small groups of Islamist terrorists as a question of when rather than if.

• Wednesday, January 7th 2015 - 06:20 UTC

  Brazil sends foreign minister to China/Celac meeting in Beijing

  

  Brazil's new foreign minister Mauro Vieira has left for Beijing to attend the first ministerial meeting between China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC, according to reports from Brasilia.

• Wednesday, January 7th 2015 - 04:42 UTC

  FIFA vice-president will challenge Blatter for the presidency in May 29 election

  

  FIFA Vice-President Prince Ali bin Al Hussein said on Tuesday he would stand against Sepp Blatter for presidency of football's world governing body, declaring that years of controversy surrounding “the beautiful sport” must end.

• Wednesday, January 7th 2015 - 04:29 UTC

  IAATO Environmental Manager is former BAS official and 2013 Queen's Polar Medal

  

  The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) announced the appointment of Tudor Morgan to the full-time position of Environmental Manager. Tudor’s overall role is to support safe and environmentally responsible tourism to Antarctica, with a particular focus on field operations.

• Tuesday, January 6th 2015 - 23:11 UTC

  Energy crisis as early as 2016

  

  Low oil prices today may be setting the world up for an oil shortage as early as 2016. Today we have just 2% more crude oil supply than demand and the price of gasoline is under $2.00/gallon in Texas. If oil supply falls too far, we could see gasoline prices doubling within 18 months. For a commodity as critical to our standard of living as oil is, it only takes a small shortage to drive up the price.

• Tuesday, January 6th 2015 - 22:36 UTC

  China, Australia and Thailand with plans to improve submarine fleets

  

  China, Australia and possibly Thailand are planning to increase, replace or incorporate modern submarines to their fleets according to reports from Asia-Pacific countries. In the case of China they are expected to be nuclear-powered attack subs armed with ballistic missiles and should be operational by 2020.

• Tuesday, January 6th 2015 - 22:12 UTC

  Spain tried to abort US Congress bill in support of Gibraltar's right to self determination

  

  Spain tried to persuade US politicians to drop an initiative calling for the House of Representatives in Washington to formally recognize Gibraltar’s right to self-determination. The plea was contained in a letter from Spain’s ambassador to Washington, Ramon Gil-Casares, to Republican Congressman George Holding, who sponsored the bi-partisan resolution.

• Tuesday, January 6th 2015 - 07:41 UTC

  US oil price falls below 50 dollars threshold, and markets decline sharply

  

  The US oil price fell below the symbolic threshold of $50 a barrel for the first time since April 2009, before finishing the day at $50.05. The price of Brent crude also fell on Monday, dipping 6% to $53 a barrel.