International

• Monday, April 25th 2011 - 06:43 UTC

  WTO warns Doha Round talks are at ‘serious risk’: crucial meeting 29 April

  

  The head of the World Trade Organization warned the decade-old Doha Round talks on a new global commerce deal involving billions of dollars are at “serious risk” because of differences over cutting tariffs on industrial goods.

• Monday, April 25th 2011 - 06:14 UTC

  More protests in Syria in spite of the security forces ‘shoot to kill’ policy

  

  Security forces have reportedly shot dead at least three people and injured others in north-west Syria, days after the worst bloodshed since unrest began. Police and soldiers opened fire from rooftops in the coastal town of Jabla, though no protest was being held at the time, witnesses said.

• Sunday, April 24th 2011 - 01:05 UTC

  Antarctica ozone hole linked to Australia’s recent series of droughts

  

  The Antarctic ozone hole is about one-third to blame for Australia's recent series of droughts, scientists say. Writing in in the journal Science, they conclude that the hole has shifted wind and rainfall patterns right across the Southern Hemisphere, even the tropics.

• Thursday, April 21st 2011 - 21:38 UTC

  Fiat increases share in Chrysler to 46%; speculation on an eventual takeover

  

  Italian carmaker Fiat says it has reached a deal to buy an additional 16% stake in Chrysler for 1.27bn US dollars. The move takes Fiat's stake in the US's third-largest carmaker to 46% and raises speculation about an eventual takeover this year.

• Thursday, April 21st 2011 - 21:33 UTC

  Turbulence from speeding motor boats kills zooplankton, reveals study

  

  Turbulence generated by speeding motor boats kills significant numbers of zooplankton, a study has revealed for the first time. Experiments on copepods, tiny crustaceans that live and float in water, show that a third die in waters frequented by propeller-driven boats. That is significantly more than in bodies of water not used by boats.

• Thursday, April 21st 2011 - 06:54 UTC

  WTO Lamy launches ‘confessionals’ of hope to try and salvage the Doha Round

  

  Pascal Lamy head of the World Trade Organization is holding talks to try and salvage the ailing Doha Round of trade liberalization talks that have been stalled for almost a decade.

• Thursday, April 21st 2011 - 06:41 UTC

  China further opens its market to Brazilian beef, chicken and now pork

  

  China opened its market significantly for Brazilian beef and chicken said Brazil’s Agriculture minister Wagner Rossi on his return from a week long visit to China with a business delegation headed by President Dilma Rousseff.

• Thursday, April 21st 2011 - 06:22 UTC

  Gibraltar promotes cruise calls allowing them to open on-board casinos and shops

  

  Cruise ships calling in Gibraltar will be allowed to open their on-board casinos and shops to their passengers after 6pm, providing an incentive to remain alongside until the early hours of the following morning, was announced by the Rock’s Deputy Chief Minister Joe Holliday.

• Thursday, April 21st 2011 - 06:18 UTC

  Syria lifts 50 year emergency rule but permission is needed for demonstrations

  

  The Syrian authorities' arrest of a leftist opposition figure overnight suggests that a bill passed by the government to end emergency rule after 48 years will not halt repression, rights campaigners said.

• Wednesday, April 20th 2011 - 02:21 UTC

  FDI in China soars 32.9% in March, totals 30.3 billion USD in first quarter

  

  Foreign direct investment (FDI) in China grew 32.9% year on year in March to 12.52 billion US dollars, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) reported Tuesday. FDI in China has increased 29.4% in the first quarter to 30.34 billion USD, MOC spokesman Yao Jian said.