International

• Tuesday, December 17th 2013 - 02:56 UTC

  UK investing in new generation of nuclear deterrent 'Successor' submarines

  

  The UK Defence Secretary has announced £79 million of investment in the next generation of Royal Navy submarines. The Successor submarines, which will carry the UK’s strategic nuclear deterrent will be the largest and most advanced boats operated by the Navy and their design and construction will be the most technologically complex in the history of the UK.

• Tuesday, December 17th 2013 - 02:53 UTC

  Ireland exits bailout program but difficulties remain; Portugal next in the queue

  

  Ireland's prime minister has marked the end of the country's bailout program with a speech to the nation. In a televised address, Enda Kenny said Ireland's “good name and our credibility” had been restored. Meanwhile Portugal could be the next in the list after a review of the economy was advanced six months.

• Monday, December 16th 2013 - 17:19 UTC

  Brazil again delays fighter jet contract; France rapidly losing ground in the bid

  

  France will lose out in its bid to win a multi-billion-dollar fighter jet contract with Brazil, the Folha de Sao Paulo daily reported over the week-end. It said France’s 4 billion dollars proposal for 36 Rafale fighter jets, from a consortium led by French giant Dassault, will be shot down for cost reason.

• Monday, December 16th 2013 - 17:16 UTC

  Spain finally prepared to tackle political corruption: bill to control political parties finances

  

  Spain’s government proposed a law to control more tightly the financial activities of political parties, after corruption scandals in recent years involving both left and right. The law will ban legal and corporate entities from making donations to parties, and banks will no longer be allowed to cancel their debts or negotiate with them interest rates that would be below market levels. Donations are currently allowed up to a limit of 100,000 Euros a year.

• Monday, December 16th 2013 - 17:08 UTC

  Germany's 'grand coalition' takes off Tuesday: Social Democrats 6 in 16 ministries

  

  Germany’s main center-left party cleared the way for Angela Merkel to start her third term as chancellor on Tuesday, announcing that its members had voted by a large majority to join the conservative leader in government. The ballot of the Social Democrats’ nearly 475,000 members capped post-World War II Germany’s longest effort to form a government.

• Monday, December 16th 2013 - 17:01 UTC

  Following another death, Brazilian labor court orders partial stop in Amazon stadium

  

  A Brazilian labor court ordered a partial stop to construction on the Arena Amazonia in the jungle city of Manaus after the death of a worker who fell off the stadium's roof again raised safety concerns ahead of the 2014 soccer World Cup.

• Monday, December 16th 2013 - 16:52 UTC

  UN research panel says 'institutionalized racism' persists in Brazil

  

  Institutionalized racism persists in Brazil despite government efforts to tackle the issue, according to members of a United Nations panel examining conditions among black Brazilians in five cities. However Brazilian blacks ``still suffer from structural, institutional and interpersonal racism.''

• Monday, December 16th 2013 - 16:43 UTC

  Falklands: formal UK protest to Argentina over oil bill: Argentine law does not apply in the Islands

  

  The United Kingdom formally protested on Monday to Argentina about the passing of an amendment to the hydrocarbons bill which seeks to criminalize individuals or companies with involved in hydrocarbons activities in Falkland Islands waters, insisting that Argentine law does not apply to the Falklands and the Islanders right to develop their hydrocarbons sector.

• Monday, December 16th 2013 - 16:31 UTC

  Falklands/Malvinas controversy: Argentine Senator rejects Oxford invitation and honors

  

  An Argentine national senator publicly rejected an invitation to attend a special business and academics conference in Oxford arguing he could not participate in an event coming from a country “which has troops occupying part of our motherland territory”.

• Monday, December 16th 2013 - 10:37 UTC

  Chile/Peru maritime dispute: International Court of Justice verdict January 27

  

  As the International Court of Justice is set to release its final verdict in January, Peru announces plans to build a new settlement less than a mile from the Chilean border. After years of tribulation, an end is finally in sight for a maritime dispute between Chile and Peru, with The Hague to announce its verdict on the case Jan. 27.