International

• Friday, November 29th 2013 - 07:08 UTC

  Falklands oil exploration exposed to jail and fines according to Argentine law

  

  Argentina has threatened oil firms seeking to operate off the Falkland Islands with 15-year jail terms, huge fines and confiscation of assets in a fresh salvo in the dispute with Britain over South Atlantic islands sovereignty. But UK reiterated that Argentine law does not apply to Falklands or British Overseas Territories.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 22:51 UTC

  Repsol contracts Deutsche Bank as advisor for the YPF compensation deal

  

  Repsol appointed Deutsche Bank AG to advise it on the compensation pre-settlement it reached with Argentina regarding the seizure of 51% of YPF in April 2012. The arrangement was negotiated in Buenos Aires this week by ministers from Argentina and Spain, Repsol executives, and representatives from the Spanish company’s two largest shareholders, Mexico's Petroleos Mexicanos, Pemex and Barcelona-based CaixaBank SA.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 21:03 UTC

  UK will insist Gibraltar be included in all EU aviation legislation

  

  The British Government will refuse to accept a return to the pre-2006 Cordoba Agreement practice of excluding the Gibraltar airport from EU aviation measures, Minister for Europe David Lidington told Parliament and pledged the inclusion of Gibraltar in all EU aviation legislation.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 20:58 UTC

  EC makes public list of countries with yellow cards for involvement in illegal fishing

  

  European Commission (EC) is urging European countries to impose trade sanction on Belize over illegal fishing, while warning Curacao that it may be next. The EC also urged European Union governments to hit Cambodia and Guinea with the sanctions, cautioning South Korea and Ghana that they, too, may be next in line.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 11:28 UTC

  North west England trade mission scheduled to visit Chile, Argentina and Brazil

  

  Attracted by Chile’s positive economic climate a trade mission for North West England will be arriving in Santiago on 2nd-3rd December. The delegation from one of the most dynamic areas of the UK economy has representatives from Covering Cheshire, Lancashire, Cumbria and the cities of Manchester and Liverpool.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 11:22 UTC

  Washington pledged support for Japan in dispute with China over islands

  

  The United States pledged support for ally Japan in a growing dispute with China over islands in the East China Sea and senior US administration officials accused Beijing of behavior that had unsettled its neighbors.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 11:02 UTC

  Repsol board backs compensation deal offered by Argentina for seized YPF

  

  Spanish oil group Repsol's board Wednesday backed a draft multi-billion-dollar compensation deal over Argentina's 2012 seizure of the company's YPF subsidiary. The deal seeks to repair the financial hit taken by Repsol when Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez in April 2012 ordered the seizure of Repsol's 51-percent stake in YPF.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 10:50 UTC

  Sigh of relief in Europe: German Chancellor Merkel works out a 'grand coalition'

  

  Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) clinched a coalition deal early Wednesday that puts Germany on track to have a new government in place by Christmas.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 10:36 UTC

  Spain assures it will not open UK government bags with official correspondence

  

  Spain has assured London that the incident in which UK government bags containing official correspondence and communications were opened by Spanish officials at the Gibraltar border, “will not see a repeat of these actions”, according to an official release from the Foreign Office on the update to Parliament on the incident.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 10:04 UTC

  Falklands' referendum receives praise and is shown as an example for other Overseas Territories

  

  Praise for the Falkland Islands last March referendum and encouragement for other Overseas Territories to hold similar referendums on their future, was included in the final communiqué from the annual UK/British Overseas Territories joint Ministerial Council held this week in London.