International

• Tuesday, August 27th 2013 - 02:36 UTC

  International tourist arrivals grew 5% in the first half, according to WTO

  

  International tourist arrivals grew by 5% during the first half of 2013 compared to the same period of 2012, reaching almost 500 million, according to data just released by the United Nations World Tourism Organization. Growth was above the projection made at the beginning of the year (+3% to +4%) and is also exceeding the trend of the UNWTO long-term outlook Tourism Towards 2030 (+3.8% a year).

• Tuesday, August 27th 2013 - 01:39 UTC

  Paraguayan president plans round of visits to Mercosur neighbours

  

  Paraguayan president Horacio Cartes will be making a round of visits to neighbouring countries beginning with Argentina, which will be followed by Brazil, Uruguay and Chile before the end of the year, revealed foreign ministry sources.

• Tuesday, August 27th 2013 - 01:05 UTC

  EU will decide if cement blocks dumped in Gibraltar Bay is an environmental crime

  

  Brussels will determine whether the 70 cement blocks dumped in the Gibraltar bay are legal or not, according to the European Union spokesperson Olivier Bailly who anticipated an EC fact finding mission can be expected next month to visit the controversy area.

• Monday, August 26th 2013 - 04:10 UTC

  HMS Argyll sails across the Panama Canal on the last leg of her deployment

  

  South Atlantic patrol HMS Argyll is coming to the end of her seven month deployment and next month is expected back in Davenport. Last week the Type 23 frigate crossed the 80 kilometre Panama Caal sailing two seas in one day, after finishing an intense period of counter-narcotics operation in the Eastern Pacific.

• Monday, August 26th 2013 - 03:25 UTC

  Falkland's Falklands’ lawmakers to Commonwealth Parliamentary conference in South Africa

  

  Falkland Islands lawmakers, MLA Roger Edwards and MLA Barry Elsby are travelling to South Africa to attend the 59th Commonwealth Parliamentary conference and associated events to be held between 28 August and 6 September

• Monday, August 26th 2013 - 03:21 UTC

  Spain conditions talks with UK to removal of cement blocks from Gibraltar bay

  

  Spain will only discuss about fisheries with the UK after the blocks dumped into the Gibraltar bay have been removed, said foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo in a Sunday interview with the right wing newspaper La Razon.

• Monday, August 26th 2013 - 03:01 UTC

  Argentina defiant of bonds‘case latest ruling: ‘they want to take us back to 2001’

  

  Argentine Economy minister Hernán Lorenzino said that the New York appeals court ruling supporting Judge Thomas Griesa decision in favour of paying the hedge funds the 1.3bn dollars they are demanding, was an “attempt to take the country back to 2001”.

• Monday, August 26th 2013 - 02:38 UTC

  Germany top of the class in budget surplus and sustained economic growth

  

  Official figures show Germany's budget surplus rose to 0.6% of GDP in the first half of the year, boosted by higher tax income. The government pulled in 321.4bn Euros in taxes, 3.8% more than a year ago thanks to its steady employment rate. The German Federal Statistical Office, Destatis, said the surplus was 8.5bn Euros in the period between January and June.

• Monday, August 26th 2013 - 02:30 UTC

  First gay couple, Sergio and Rodolfo officially married in Uruguay

  

  The first gay couple to register to marry in Uruguay when a new equal marriage law took effect on 5 August, have married as gay rights activists celebrate in the country. Sergio Miranda and Rodrigo Borda married in Montevideo last Thursday accompanied by 30 friends and family, US Ambassador Julissa Reynoso and around a hundred members of the media.

• Saturday, August 24th 2013 - 18:28 UTC

  Gibraltar criticizes latest incident at artificial reef; Picardo opens window for talks

  

  Gibraltar has strongly criticised Spanish police for sending divers to inspect an artificial reef in waters claimed by the British territory. Governor Sir Adrian Johns said the action constituted a serious violation of UK sovereignty over Gibraltar.