International

• Thursday, December 20th 2012 - 18:00 UTC

  ARA Libertad: Ghana port authority lost 7.6m dollars; could demand NML Capital

  

  Ghana’s Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) admits to having lost 7.6 million dollars as a result of the Argentine frigate ARA Libertad's occupation of its prime berth for a period of 76 days, reports Accra’s Graphic Online.

• Thursday, December 20th 2012 - 06:02 UTC

  Record killing of journalists doing their jobs in 2012, according to RSF

  

  More journalists were killed doing their job in 2012 than in any year since monitoring started 17 years ago, with Syria and Somalia seeing a particularly heavy toll followed by Pakistan and Mexico, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Wednesday.

• Wednesday, December 19th 2012 - 23:10 UTC

  ARA Libertad is in the high seas; great reception in Mar del Plata on 9 January

  

  The Argentine Navy flagship ARA Libertad set sail for Mar del Plata on Wednesday four days after a UN court ordered its release from the Tema port in Accra, Ghana, following a 77 day embargo (since 2 October) due to a claim by vulture fund NML Capital.

• Wednesday, December 19th 2012 - 20:45 UTC

  Chevron/YPF sign pilot accord to drill 100 wells in Vaca Muerta shale deposits

  

  US Chevron and Argentina’s nationalized YPF signed a partnership to on Wednesday to invest 1 billion dollars to develop the shale-oil reserves of Vaca Muerta in the hydrocarbons rich Patagonian province of Neuquén.

• Wednesday, December 19th 2012 - 20:25 UTC

  UBS fined in US, UK and Switzerland for manipulating the Libor rate

  

  Swiss banking giant UBS has agreed to pay 1.5bn dollars to US, UK and Swiss regulators for attempting to manipulate the Libor inter-bank lending rate. It becomes the second major bank to be fined over Libor after Barclays was ordered to pay 450m to UK and US authorities in the summer.

• Wednesday, December 19th 2012 - 20:12 UTC

  US court tells Sea Shepherd to stay away from Japan’s whaling fleet in Southern Ocean

  

  US court has ordered conservation group Sea Shepherd to stay at least 500 yards away from Japan's whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit banned the group from “physically attacking any vessel engaged by the plaintiffs”.

• Wednesday, December 19th 2012 - 19:43 UTC

  President Obama re-election feat makes him TIME Person of the Year

  

  US President Barack Obama was named TIME Person of the Year for 2012, citing his historic re-election last month as symbolic of the nation's changing demographics amid the backdrop of high unemployment and other challenges.

• Wednesday, December 19th 2012 - 06:36 UTC

  Arriving tourists to September in Chile up 15-9% and total over 2.5 million

  

  The number of tourist arrivals in Chile increased 15.9% in the first nine months of the year (Jan/September) totalling 2.565.525, according to the Federation of Tourism Enterprises, which represents “an excellent accumulated growth”.

• Wednesday, December 19th 2012 - 04:06 UTC

  Europe opens state of the art satellite tracking station in Argentina

  

  A new satellite tracking station at Malargue, Mendoza, Argentina, was formally inaugurated on Tuesday, completing the trio of deep-space stations and confirming ESA, European Space Agency, as one of the world's most technologically advanced space organisations.

• Wednesday, December 19th 2012 - 01:52 UTC

  Queen Elizabeth becomes first monarch since 1781 to attend a cabinet meeting

  

  Queen Elizabeth became on Tuesday the first monarch, since 1781, during the US war of independence, to make a historic visit to Downing Street and attend a cabinet meeting.