International

• Wednesday, January 15th 2014 - 19:29 UTC

  GM will pay its first dividend since 2008; sales jump in China and United States

  

  US carmaker General Motors (GM) said it will resume dividend payments, capping a remarkable turnaround since its 2009 bailout by the US government. It will pay a dividend of 30 cents per share, the first since July 2008.

• Wednesday, January 15th 2014 - 18:54 UTC

  The Dutch beat French and Swiss in healthy affordable diet, says Oxfam

  

  The Netherlands is No. 1 in the world for having the most plentiful, nutritious, healthy and affordable diet, beating France and Switzerland into second place. Chad is last in 125th spot behind Ethiopia and Angola, according to a new food database by worldwide development organization Oxfam.

• Wednesday, January 15th 2014 - 07:11 UTC

  New EPA rule requires chemical disclosure for offshore fracking

  

  By. Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published a rule on January 9, 2014 requiring oil and gas companies using hydraulic fracturing off the coast of California to disclose the chemicals they discharge into the ocean. Oil and gas companies have been fracking offshore California for perhaps as long as two decades, but they largely flew under the radar until recently.

• Wednesday, January 15th 2014 - 07:03 UTC

  Obesity problem in UK 'underestimated' and 'hard-hitting' campaigns are needed

  

  Predictions that half the British population will be obese by 2050 “underestimate” the scale of the obesity crisis, a report suggests. The UK is in danger of surpassing predictions of a 2007 report which estimated that 50% of the nation would be obese by 2050, the National Obesity Forum said.

• Wednesday, January 15th 2014 - 00:00 UTC

  Francis surprises conservatives with strong mention against the 'horrific' practice of abortion

  

  Pope Francis, whom conservatives in the Roman Catholic Church have accused of not speaking out forcefully enough against abortion, has called the practice “horrific.” The pope made his toughest remarks to date on abortion in his yearly address to diplomats accredited to the Vatican, a speech known as his “State of the World” address.

• Tuesday, January 14th 2014 - 23:49 UTC

  Forces line up for Scotland's September vote on independence: Hague in Glasgow

  

  UK Foreign Secretary and Chief Secretary of the Treasury are scheduled to launch on Friday in Glasgow a Scotland analysis paper, the first in the series to be published since the launch of the Scottish Government’s White Paper in November. Next September Scotland is holding a vote on independence.

• Tuesday, January 14th 2014 - 18:34 UTC

  Falklands fisheries will come under attack from Argentina so as to 'strangle the Islands'' economy

  

  Argentina is preparing a battery of instruments to attack the Falklands fisheries and involved fishing companies with the purpose of 'strangling the economy' of the Islands thus forcing the UK to sit and dialogue on South Atlantic Islands sovereignty, according to a piece by La Nacion columnist Martín Dinatale.

• Tuesday, January 14th 2014 - 07:50 UTC

  China becomes the leading market for Uruguayan meat exports

  

  Uruguay's meat exports slid 6.5% in volume during 2013 compared to the previous year, but the big news is that China has become the main client for beef, followed by Nafta countries, (US, Canada and Mexico), according to the latest release from the country's National Meat Institute, INAC.

• Tuesday, January 14th 2014 - 07:23 UTC

  Prison sentences for those who drill for oil in Malvinas waters, warns Argentina

  

  ”Argentina will defend its claim” over the Malvinas Islands and companies drilling for oil off the coast of the contested resource-rich archipelago “will not only face administrative consequences but also prison sentences” warned Daniel Filmus, head of Argentina's recently created Malvinas Islands Secretariat, in an interview with The Guardian.

• Tuesday, January 14th 2014 - 00:00 UTC

  Foreign Office stretched “almost to the limit”, warns Parliament: “a more realistic approach needed”

  

  The Foreign Office is being stretched “almost to the limit” as it attempts to cut spending at a time of international turbulence while having to cope with additional demands such as the London Olympics, MPs have said.