International

• Thursday, August 29th 2013 - 17:08 UTC

  Mexico and Burkina Faso official hosts of World Tourism Day 2014 and 2015

  

  Mexico was selected to be the official host country for World Tourism Day (WTD) 2014 and Burkina Faso for WTD 2015. The respective themes will be “Tourism and Community Development” for 2014, and “One billion tourists, one billion opportunities” for 2015

• Thursday, August 29th 2013 - 03:17 UTC

  China calls for restraint in Syria and says military intervention can only worsen the crisis

  

  China's foreign minister urged restraint in the growing tensions over Syria, saying any military intervention in the crisis would only worsen turmoil in the Middle East. China all along has tried to maintain a neutral position on the issue, not accompanying the West’s intentions of imposing sanctions to Syria but calling on Damascus to begin talking with the rebels.

• Thursday, August 29th 2013 - 02:27 UTC

  Gibraltar will bring in construction materials by sea, skirting Spanish ban

  

  Gibraltar will sidestep an ‘illegal’ Spanish ban on overland cross-border shipments of rock, sand and aggregates by shipping the vital building materials in by sea. The ban was announced at the weekend by the Spanish authorities, which are denying export permission for these commodities and say they are being used to reclaim land in breach of EU environmental rules.

• Thursday, August 29th 2013 - 02:13 UTC

  Australia calls on sheep farmers to test rams for ovine brucellosis

  

  Australia Livestock Health and Pest Authorities (LHPA) are encouraging all sheep producers to test their rams for ovine brucellosis, following recent positive tests that the disease might be spreading throughout the country.

• Thursday, August 29th 2013 - 01:57 UTC

  OAS recalls Martin Luther King’s historic speech “I have a dream”

  

  The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza recalled on Wednesday the 50 years since the historic address by the great civil rights leader in the United States, Martin Luther King, “in which he shared his dream of inclusion and his will to put an end to racial discrimination using non-violent means.”

• Thursday, August 29th 2013 - 01:42 UTC

  Obama honours 50 anniversary of March on Washington and the ‘I have a dream’ speech

  

  Addressing hundreds of thousands of people commemorating on Wednesday the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for civil rights, US President Barack Obama underlined the “unfinished business” in the struggle for equality and justice in America

• Wednesday, August 28th 2013 - 21:56 UTC

  Brazil raises benchmark interest to 9% hoping to rein in inflation

  

  Brazil raised on Wednesday its Selic benchmark interest rate to 9% from 8.5% in a further attempt to rein in inflation. The central bank's monetary policy committee, the Copom, voted unanimously for a third straight half percentage point rate rise.

• Wednesday, August 28th 2013 - 14:24 UTC

  EU Home Affairs Commissioner heads mission to examine Spanish controls at Gibraltar border

  

  Cecilia Malmstrom, European Commissioner for Home Affairs, will be heading the mission tasked with examining border controls imposed on Gibraltar by Spain while a second mission will address the ‘customs dimension’ issue, the European Commission has confirmed. British authorities will be involved in the EC probe of the Gibraltar frontier as will Spanish officials but no date for the visit has been set though it is expected within a few weeks.

• Wednesday, August 28th 2013 - 14:22 UTC

  UK reaffirms support for Gibraltar; Picardo meets with PM Cameron and Hague

  

  British Prime Minister David Cameron office has highlighted the significance of Chief Minister Fabian Picardo’s visit to No 10 Downing Street as an indication of the relationship and support of UK for Gibraltar.

• Tuesday, August 27th 2013 - 21:55 UTC

  China and emerging economies call on the Fed for prudence in unwinding stimulus

  

  The US Federal Reserve must consider when and how fast it unwinds its economic stimulus to avoid harming emerging market economies, senior Chinese officials said on Tuesday. Financial markets are uneasy because the US Fed might decide to reduce its monthly bond buying when it meets on Sept 17 and 18.