International

• Monday, January 2nd 2012 - 21:48 UTC

  Merkel and Sarkozy prepare for yet another round of Euro-rescue talks

  

  German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy have said they will meet next week to discuss the Euro zone debt crisis. Their first meeting of 2012 comes after all EU countries except the UK agreed to work together on a new treaty to stabilise the Euro zone.

• Monday, January 2nd 2012 - 06:21 UTC

  Saudi dairy farm buys 30.000 acres of prime land in Argentina

  

  Saudi Arabia's largest dairy company announced it was buying Argentine farm operator Fondomonte for 83 million dollars to secure access to a supply of animal feed. The acquisition will give Riyadh-based Almarai Co. control of roughly 30,000 acres of farmland just ahead of tough new limits to be imposed by Argentina's government on foreign ownership of productive land.

• Monday, January 2nd 2012 - 06:00 UTC

  Australia was prepared to take refugees from the Falklands during 1982 conflict

  

  Australia’s Malcolm Fraser Government considered taking British refugees from the Falkland Islands at the height of the South Atlantic conflict in 1982, reports the Sydney press based on the release of National Archives.

• Monday, January 2nd 2012 - 03:49 UTC

  Two leading groups involved in major dispute over krill properties’ patents

  

  US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) this week granted Aker BioMarine’s request for re-examination of US patent number 8,030,348 assigned to competitor Neptune Technologies and Bioressources. The re-examination was approved for all 21 claims of the patent and in consideration of multiple references presented by Aker BioMarine.

• Monday, January 2nd 2012 - 01:00 UTC

  Sarkozy over burdened with a stagnant economy and elections next April

  

  French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged in a grave New Year's message to find ways to pull the economy out of stagnation in the four months left before a presidential election and vowed no further public spending cuts.

• Monday, January 2nd 2012 - 00:56 UTC

  Merkel calls for closer EU cooperation to rescue the Euro

  

  Europe must cooperate more closely if it wants the Euro to succeed as its shared currency, and it still has a long way to go to overcome its sovereign debt crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her New Year's Eve address.

• Saturday, December 31st 2011 - 18:28 UTC

  “Fasten your seatbelts; it’s going to be a bumpy year!”

  

  By Nouriel Roubini (*) - The outlook for the global economy in 2012 is clear, but it isn’t pretty: recession in Europe, anemic growth at best in the United States, and a sharp slowdown in China and in most emerging-market economies.

• Saturday, December 31st 2011 - 03:32 UTC

  More than 100 journalists killed in 2011; call on the UN for protection action

  

  More than 100 journalists or other media staffs were killed in 2011, up from last year's toll, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said, calling on UN Secretary General Bank Ki-moon to act to help protect the profession.

• Saturday, December 31st 2011 - 03:26 UTC

  UK awards 46 offshore hydrocarbons exploratory licences in controversial areas

  

  UK government has awarded 46 new offshore exploratory drilling licences to firms, including Shell and Centrica, looking for oil and gas. The awards were initially held back due to environmental concerns.

• Saturday, December 31st 2011 - 03:18 UTC

  Thatcher was warned about risks of Navy cuts a year before the Falklands conflict

  

  Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was warned about the risks in slashing Britain's navy, a year before the 1982 Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands, secret files released Friday showed.