International

• Tuesday, July 19th 2011 - 23:28 UTC

  UK outlines new foreign and defence policies based on ‘building stability overseas’

  

  The British Government published this week a new strategy outlining how the UK will promote stability and prosperity in countries and regions where its interests are at stake particularly though improved early warning and crisis prevention.

• Tuesday, July 19th 2011 - 05:06 UTC

  Parliament to question PM Cameron on links with the Murdoch empire

  

  British PM David Cameron cut short a trip to Africa and will fly home on Tuesday to defend himself from a scandal that has battered Rupert Murdoch's media empire, forced British police chiefs to resign and raised doubts about the prime minister's judgment.

• Monday, July 18th 2011 - 10:47 UTC

  Hague announces UK will appeal EC decision on Gibraltar waters

  

  Foreign Secretary William Hague said the Government has a clear responsibility to uphold the UK's position over the waters around Gibraltar and will be appealing a European Commission decision benefiting Spain.

• Monday, July 18th 2011 - 10:04 UTC

  Animal rights organizations claim Japan is corrupting the Whaling Commission

  

  Animal rights organizations claim Japan has been handing out generous grants to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to support turning the International Whaling Commission into a “toothless paper tiger” undermining the whaling-moratorium.

• Saturday, July 16th 2011 - 07:11 UTC

  IMO agrees mandatory energy efficiency measures for international shipping

  

  The International Maritime Organization (IMO) agreed on Friday on energy efficiency design standards for new ships to cut greenhouse gas emissions, but developing countries will probably delay implementation by using a waiver, delegates said.

• Saturday, July 16th 2011 - 06:58 UTC

  Eight out of 90 banks in Europe fail stress-test, five of them from Spain

  

  Eight banks have failed Europe's bank stress test designed to assess whether they can weather another economic crisis while 16 banks barely passed, bank regulators said on Friday.

• Saturday, July 16th 2011 - 06:52 UTC

  RAF largest ever dual purpose aircraft, Voyager can carry 300 troops or 100.000 litres of fuel

  

  The RAF’s largest ever aircraft, Voyager, has been flown by an RAF pilot at the Royal International Air Tattoo, Fairford for its first public appearance. Fourteen Voyager aircraft and a complete support package are being provided to the RAF under a 27 year £10.5bn Private Finance Initiative contract signed with the AirTanker consortium.

• Friday, July 15th 2011 - 06:04 UTC

  China forecasted to become Latin America’s second trade partner by 2015

  

  China will become Latin America's second largest trade partner as early as in 2015, the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) said this week.

• Friday, July 15th 2011 - 06:01 UTC

  “Home, sweet home”, ever so distant (and expensive) for Chinese citizens

  

  China on Thursday pledged to extend limits on new home purchases to smaller cities as authorities step up efforts to cool the country's red-hot real estate market. The State Council, or cabinet, said it would tighten existing property restrictions in cities that have seen excessive price rises to push them “back to reasonable levels”.

• Friday, July 15th 2011 - 05:54 UTC

  Italian parliament does its homework and approves sweeping austerity budget

  

  Italy's upper house of parliament has agreed to a sweeping austerity budget in a move intended to allay concerns over a possible bailout. Meanwhile, Greece must come to terms with another ratings downgrade.