International

• Tuesday, September 17th 2013 - 06:54 UTC

  UN describes the Montreal Protocol on ozone “a remarkable success story”

  

  United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called Monday on the international community to continue efforts that will preserve the world’s ozone layer and protect the environment. In his message for the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, Mr. Ban pointed to the Montreal Protocol as an example of how Member States are capable to work for the common good.

• Tuesday, September 17th 2013 - 06:50 UTC

  Obama sets the field for the coming clash with Republicans on the US debt ceiling

  

  US President Barack Obama warned Republicans in Congress on Monday that he will not negotiate over an extension of the US debt ceiling as part of a budget battle that will soon dominate Washington, with a deadline fast approaching.

• Tuesday, September 17th 2013 - 06:34 UTC

  Italian engineers manage to set Costa Concordia upright 20 months after grounding

  

  Engineers in Italy have succeeded in setting the cruise ship Costa Concordia upright, 20 months after it ran aground off the island of Giglio. They said that the unprecedented salvage effort ”reached degree zero (vertical), which was our target”.

• Monday, September 16th 2013 - 22:02 UTC

  Vigo starts bio-bank to store commercial fisheries marine parasite samples

  

  The Marine Research Institute from Vigo, Spain has launched the first world bio-bank which collects, stores and will distribute samples of marine parasites and associated bio-molecules such as the anisakis, in the framework of the EU ‘Parasite’ project to assess their sanitary and commercial impact on the food chain and validation of tools to mitigate effects.

• Monday, September 16th 2013 - 01:32 UTC

  Colombia denies registry of the ‘Escobar’ trademark to family members

  

  Colombia’s government has refused registration as a trademark of the full name “Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria” the country most notorious narcotics criminal. According to local news in Bogotá the application was filed by Maria Isabel Santos Cabalerro, Juana Manuela Marroquín Santos and Juan Sebastian Marroquín Santos, Escobar’s widow and children respectively who changed their names after settling in Argentina in the late 1990.

• Monday, September 16th 2013 - 01:29 UTC

  Leading Spanish bank ready to lend 10bn dollars for infrastructure in Brazil

  

  Following a meeting with President Dilma Rousseff, Banco Santander Chairman Emilio Botin said that the Spanish bank has 10 billion dollars available to finance infrastructure projects in Brazil. He also anticipated that loan book growth at Banco Santander Brasil SA would be up about 10% in 2013.

• Monday, September 16th 2013 - 01:26 UTC

  Colombia/Nicaragua maritime dispute reignites, despite International Court ruling

  

  President Juan Manuel Santos presented before Colombia’s constitutional court a demand against the Pact of Bogotá arguing that a recent ruling from the International Court of Justice on a maritime dispute with Nicaragua does not comply with the Colombian constitution.

• Sunday, September 15th 2013 - 20:18 UTC

  Summers pulls out of the race to succeed Bernanke at the Federal Reserve

  

  Lawrence “Larry” Summers, the former Treasury Secretary who served Presidents Clinton and Obama, called President Barack Obama on Sunday to say he is pulling out of the race to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the Federal Reserve.

• Sunday, September 15th 2013 - 20:16 UTC

  Pope’s meets with the father of liberation theology; Vatican media praises the Peruvian priest

  

  Pope Francis' September 11 meeting with Dominican Father Gustavo Gutierrez was an informal one, held in the in the pope's residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae, and not listed on his official schedule., reports the Catholic News Service. However the news that Pope Francis had received the 85-year old Peruvian priest, who is widely considered the father of liberation theology, has excited interest far beyond the Vatican's walls.

• Sunday, September 15th 2013 - 19:18 UTC

  RFA Wave Knight in major seizure of drugs in the Caribbean

  

  Royal Fleet Auxiliary support ship Wave Knight has helped seize an estimated £6.5 million worth of drugs from traffickers in the Caribbean. In a multi-agency operation involving UK and US assets, the fishing vessel Miss Tiffany was detected and one of Wave Knight’s boats was launched to investigate.