International

• Friday, October 26th 2012 - 21:27 UTC

  End of bunga-bunga: ex PM Berlusconi handed jail sentence for tax fraud

  

  Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been handed a jail sentence and barred from office after being found guilty of tax fraud. The Milan court sentenced him to four years but later cut it to one year because of an amnesty law.

• Thursday, October 25th 2012 - 23:48 UTC

  Antarctic ozone hole in 2012, the second smallest in the last 20 years, says NASA

  

  The average area covered by the Antarctic ozone hole this year was the second smallest in the last 20 years, according to data from NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites. Scientists attribute the change to warmer temperatures in the Antarctic lower stratosphere.

• Thursday, October 25th 2012 - 19:12 UTC

  Hong Kong intervenes to weaken its currency, threatened by capital inflow surge

  

  Hong Kong's central bank has intervened in financial markets again, weakening the value of its currency after it jumped in value. This follows similar moves on Sunday and pushes the total cost of intervention in the past week to 14.3bn Hong Kong dollars (1.85bn dollars).

• Thursday, October 25th 2012 - 19:06 UTC

  Santander quarterly profits plummet 90%; property losses provision of 3.5bn euros

  

  Spanish bank Santander has said its quarterly profits fell by more than 90% after taking provisions for bad property loans in its local market. Net income fell to 100m Euros in the third quarter from 1.8bn Euros in the same period last year, it said.

• Thursday, October 25th 2012 - 19:02 UTC

  BBC presenter sexual abuse scandal widens, with 300 possible victims

  

  The number of possible sexual abuse victims of BBC TV presenter and DJ Jimmy Savile has risen to 300, Scotland Yard has confirmed. Savile who died last year aged 84, may have abused scores of young girls and some boys over a 40-year period.

• Thursday, October 25th 2012 - 18:51 UTC

  Ghana port authorities want ARA Libertad moved to anchorage; Argentina refuses

  

  Ghanaian officials asked a judge Thursday to order the Argentine navy ship detained in the West African nation over a debt dispute to be moved because it was blocking valuable space at the port of Tema.

• Thursday, October 25th 2012 - 18:39 UTC

  ARA Libertad: Defence minister takes responsibility; Ghana embarrassed with the incident

  

  Argentine Defence Minister Arturo Puricelli took responsibility on Thursday for the fate of the navy training frigate Libertad, which continues to be impounded in Ghana. Meanwhile from Ghana a top official said the country was “embarrassed” with the whole incident.

• Thursday, October 25th 2012 - 18:26 UTC

  Olympics and Diamond Jubilee help UK economy return to growth in third quarter

  

  Spurred by the Olympics the UK economy returned to growth at its fastest pace in five years, official figures showed on Thursday. GDP 1% in the third quarter of the year, the Office for National Statistics said. This ended three consecutive quarters of declining output.

• Thursday, October 25th 2012 - 17:51 UTC

  Reflections from our visit to the Falkland Islands

  

  A group of Central American journalists recently visited the Falkland Islands for a week as guests of the Foreign Office together with Bruce Callow from the UK Costa Rica embassy. The following is a first reflection just back from the Islands in Bruce’s blog.

• Thursday, October 25th 2012 - 06:43 UTC

  NML-Capital targeting second Argentine navy vessel docked in South Africa

  

  A second Argentine navy vessel has been targeted by NML-Capital which apparently has contracted a renowned South African law office to impound the corvette ARA Espora.