International

• Tuesday, September 18th 2012 - 15:06 UTC

  Preparing to re-enact Shackleton’s epic on a replica of ‘James Caird’ next January

  

  A pair of Royal Navy and Royal Marines adventurers has completed a summer of sea trials as they prepare to take an authentic replica of Sir Ernest Shackleton's famous lifeboat back to the icy wastes of the South Pole.

• Tuesday, September 18th 2012 - 06:53 UTC

  IMF delays report on Argentina’ controversial economic data reporting

  

  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) decided it will not “release any communiqué regarding Christine Lagarde report over Argentina's statistics,” the press department announced. It is expected that the report with the analysis of the Board of Directors will be released on Tuesday.

• Tuesday, September 18th 2012 - 06:33 UTC

  US presidential campaign reaches WTO with new case against China

  

  The United States launched on Monday a new trade case against Chinese auto and auto-parts subsidies as President Barack Obama stumped for votes in Ohio, an auto manufacturing state that could be decisive in the November presidential election.

• Tuesday, September 18th 2012 - 06:30 UTC

  Rajoy loses the influential leader of the conservative wing of the ruling party

  

  Madrid regional president Esperanza Aguirre, an influential Spanish politician and a leader of the conservative wing of the ruling centre-right People's Party (PP), resigned on Monday in a surprise announcement.

• Tuesday, September 18th 2012 - 06:23 UTC

  Meet the official mascot for the 2014 FIFA World Cup: the Brazilian armadillo

  

  Brazil has chosen an endangered armadillo as the mascot for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. While nature's version is light brown in colour, Fifa's mascot is yellow with green eyes and a blue shell, the colours of the Brazilian flag, and will be holding aloft a football.

• Tuesday, September 18th 2012 - 06:06 UTC

  Bahrain telecoms in talks to buy C&W assets, including the Falklands

  

  Bahrain Telecommunications Co is in talks with Cable & Wireless Communications to buy its assets in Monaco and a host of island nations, including the Falklands Islands, a deal potentially worth around 1 billion dollars, three banking and industry sources said, reported in the Emirates media.

• Tuesday, September 18th 2012 - 05:53 UTC

  Paraguay and Syria excluded from South America/Arab countries leaders summit in Peru

  

  The third summit of leaders from South America and Arab Countries, ASPA, will take place in Lima, Peru next 1 and 2 October but without the attendance of Paraguay and Syria which have been suspended from their respective blocks, according to Peruvian Deputy Foreign Minister Jose Beráun.

• Monday, September 17th 2012 - 05:48 UTC

  Spain dumps Paraguay from the Ibero-American summit not to offend Argentina

  

  A top Spanish official made a low profile and unexpected visit to Paraguay last week with the purpose of trying to convince the administration of president Federico Franco to remain absent from the coming Ibero-American summit scheduled for November since Madrid fears his presence could turn the event into a failure.

• Monday, September 17th 2012 - 05:32 UTC

  FCO outlines issues and calls for restraint ‘on all sides’ in Gibraltar/Spain fishing dispute

  

  The upholding of British sovereignty and protecting Gibraltar’s interests are the key issues for Governor Sir Adrian Johns in the current fishing dispute involving Spanish fishermen and the Spanish authorities.

• Monday, September 17th 2012 - 02:30 UTC

  Thousands of Spaniards take to the streets to protest: “enough is enough”

  

  Tens of thousands of Spaniards rallied in Madrid to protest against spending cuts and tax rises in a country reeling from high unemployment and a gruelling recession. Teachers, nurses and social services workers thronged the capital's central Plaza Colon a day after Spain said it would present new economic reforms at the end of September likely to contain more austerity measures.