International

• Friday, November 14th 2014 - 07:13 UTC

  Early signs of a pullback in drilling activity

  

  With oil prices low and showing no sign of an immediate rebound, the industry is beginning to pull back on spending. Oil prices have dropped around 30% since summer highs, raising fears among producers across the globe.

• Thursday, November 13th 2014 - 07:46 UTC

  Europe makes history successfully landing spacecraft on a comet, a ten year precision cosmic chase

  

  A European spacecraft made history Wednesday by successfully landing on the icy, dusty surface of a speeding comet, an audacious cosmic first designed to answer big questions about the origin of the universe. The landing on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko required immense precision, as even the slightest error could have resulted in cosmic calamity.

• Thursday, November 13th 2014 - 07:19 UTC

  South Georgia prepared to help return the trawler 'Viola', an icon of Hull

  

  Steam trawler “Viola” that skirmished with U-boats in the First World War has spent the past 50 years rusting off in South Georgia could finally be making its final voyage home, to Hull, according to a piece from Will Ramsey published in the Hull Daily Mail.

• Thursday, November 13th 2014 - 06:59 UTC

  Headache for FIFA: Amnesty again blasts Qatar for rampant abuse of migrant workers

  

  Qatar’s authorities are lagging severely behind on efforts to address the rampant abuse of migrant workers’ rights, Amnesty International said in a briefing published six months after the government announced a series of reforms to tackle exploitation ahead of the 2022 World Cup.

• Thursday, November 13th 2014 - 06:39 UTC

  UK Overseas Territories celebrates 20tt anniversary at Westminster

  

  A reception was held on the evening of November 4, in the Palace of Westminster to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the founding of the United Kingdom Overseas Territories Association (UKOTA), as reported by the Gibraltar Chronicle.

• Thursday, November 13th 2014 - 05:57 UTC

  A new settlement for England, and all Britons

  

  By Andrew Rosindell (*) - The No vote in the Scottish referendum has kept the Union together, for now. I fear however, that the issue has not gone away. We must act soon and take this opportunity to secure the future of the United Kingdom.

• Thursday, November 13th 2014 - 05:50 UTC

  Standard Chartered will close 100 branches in Asia, Africa and Middle East

  

  Standard Chartered will close up to 100 bank branches next year in Asia, Africa and the Middle East in an attempt to improve its profitability. The UK bank plans to cut about 8% of its global network of more than 1,200 branches to save $400m (£251m) a year.

• Thursday, November 13th 2014 - 05:44 UTC

  Crude price falls to a three year low, created by shale boom and Libya restart

  

  West Texas Intermediate, WTI crude closed at a three-year low on Wednesday with prices under pressure from the growing oil glut created by the U.S. shale boom and the restart of Libya's largest operational oilfield.

• Wednesday, November 12th 2014 - 18:16 UTC

  Falklanders invited to 'third party' dialogue with Argentine lawmakers

  

  An Argentine congressman has extended an open invitation to two, three 'inhabitants of the Falkland Islands', to participate in a meeting with Argentine lawmakers interested in listening to the 'third party' in the Falklands/Malvinas dispute.

• Wednesday, November 12th 2014 - 07:17 UTC

  RFA Black Rover back in UK after 17-month deployment in the Atlantic

  

  The second-oldest vessel in the Naval Service, veteran tanker RFA Black Rover, a well known presence in the Falkland Islands, has completed her penultimate deployment, a marathon of 17 months in the Atlantic. No Royal Navy vessel can carry out a patrol in the Southern Hemisphere without the support of a Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker – a duty performed in recent years by a Rover-class vessel.