
By Hector Timerman - Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman underlined Argentina’s struggle against paying ‘vulture funds’ in an article written for US newspaper Huffington Post about how Latin American and Africa are affected by these funds.

BP Plc agreed on Thursday to plead guilty to a raft of charges in the deadly Gulf of Mexico spill and pay a record 4.5 billion dollars including the biggest criminal fine in United States history. Three BP employees were also charged, two of them with manslaughter.

Xi Jinping has been confirmed as the man to lead China for the next decade. Mr Xi led the new Politburo Standing Committee onto the stage at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, signalling his elevation to the top of China's ruling Communist Party.

The International Monetary Fund ratified on Thursday that “on December 17” it will assess the “quality of Argentine statistics, particularly those referred to inflation”, an issue over which it had already warned the administration of President Cristina Fernandez.

The Foreign Office summoned the Spanish ambassador in London and condemned Madrid’s ‘provocative incursions’ in Gibraltar waters saying that it “is in the interests of Spain, as well as Gibraltar and Britain, to avoid any incident that may damage the prospects of developing a harmonious and collaborative relationship between Gibraltar and Spain”.

The catch-up boom in China, India and Brazil is largely over and will be followed by a drastic slowdown over the next decade, according to a report by America's top forecasting body.

A composition by Blur front-man Damon Albarn has been played to radio listeners around the world to mark 90 years of BBC broadcasting. 2LO Calling, a snapshot of the airwaves, featured iconic sounds from radio over the past 90 years.

Millions took to the streets across Europe in a co-ordinated day of protest against austerity measures. The European Trade Union Organisation says austerity is a total dead end and called for industrial action across 23 countries.

The Gibraltar Government said Britain must find a different way to end the “totally unacceptable” actions by Spanish state vessels, the latest of which on Tuesday with the incursion of the corvette “Vencedora” flying an oversized Spanish ensign, which represents “a frontal challenge and an affront to British sovereignty”.

Ghana authorities have denied the supply of water to the Argentine Navy flagship ARA Libertad impounded and retained in the port of Tema since 2 October and which refuses relocation to a less active pier despite a court order.