International

• Monday, December 19th 2011 - 03:15 UTC

  Storm sinks Russian oil drilling rig off Sakhalin in 20 minutes: 49 crew lost

  

  An oil drilling rig with 67 crew members on board capsized and sank off the Russian far eastern island of Sakhalin (North Pacific, Sea of Okhotsk) when it ran into a storm while being towed, leaving 49 of the crew unaccounted for, the regional Emergencies Ministry said.

• Monday, December 19th 2011 - 01:35 UTC

  Spain criticizes Argentina for trying to intercept fishing vessel when leaving Montevideo

  

  Spanish ambassador in Uruguay Aurora Diaz-Rato criticized Argentina following an incident with an Argentine Coast Guard unit which tried to intercept a Spanish flagged vessel when exiting Montevideo en route to the Falkland Islands.

• Monday, December 19th 2011 - 01:08 UTC

  Uruguayan navy air patrol escorts Spanish fishing vessel heading for Falklands

  

  As Spanish vessel with Falkland Islands fishing licence was harassed Saturday morning by the Argentine Coast Guard on leaving the port of Montevideo for the South Atlantic and had to reroute course in Uruguayan waters until reaching the high seas.

• Saturday, December 17th 2011 - 06:06 UTC

  NZ Air Force to the rescue of Russian fishing vessels caught in Antarctic ice

  

  A Royal New Zealand Air Force C130 Hercules is making an emergency flight, laden with life-saving supplies, for sinking Russian fishing vessel Sparta stranded in Antarctica.

• Saturday, December 17th 2011 - 05:49 UTC

  Uruguayan Foreign Minister says Falklands are an “inadmissible colonial enclave”

  

  Uruguay considers that British control over the Falklands or Malvinas Islands constitutes a “colonial enclave”, which is “inadmissible”, and that is why Falklands’ flagged vessels are barred from entering Uruguayan ports, said on Friday Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro.

• Saturday, December 17th 2011 - 04:26 UTC

  Meryl Streep in awe of Thatcher who she portrays in the “Iron Lady”

  

  Hollywood legend Meryl Streep concedes her own personality may bear more than a passing resemblance to Britain's steely former Prime Minister Maggie Thatcher, whom she portrays in the new movie “Iron Lady” based on the days leading to the Falkland Islands conflict in 1982

• Saturday, December 17th 2011 - 03:50 UTC

  London Olympics will have support from 13.500 MOD personnel

  

  The extent to which Britain's Armed Forces will support the security effort for next year's Olympic and Paralympic Games in London was announced Friday by the Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond.

• Saturday, December 17th 2011 - 03:40 UTC

  Satellite picture of China’s first aircraft carrier in sea trials

  

  A commercial US satellite company says it has managed to take a picture of China's first aircraft carrier during its sea trials in the Yellow Sea. If confirmed, it would be the first known photo of the former Soviet vessel recently refitted by Beijing.

• Saturday, December 17th 2011 - 02:57 UTC

  Russia after almost two decades is admitted to the World Trade Organization

  

  The World Trade Organization admitted Russia as its newest member on Friday, giving a boost to its biggest trading partner, the European Union.

• Saturday, December 17th 2011 - 02:52 UTC

  Cameron: UK is a Christian country and “we should not be afraid to say so”

  

  Prime Minister David Cameron said the UK is a Christian country “and we should not be afraid to say so”.