International

• Thursday, December 23rd 2010 - 08:02 UTC

  WikiLeaks founder Assange named “Man of the Year” by France’s Le Monde

  

  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been named “Man of the Year” by France's Le Monde newspaper, one of the five publications to cooperate with the whistleblowing website on its its latest release of leaked documents.

• Thursday, December 23rd 2010 - 02:33 UTC

  Uruguayan Major General appointed head of UN mission in India and Pakistan

  

  United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced Wednesday the appointment of Major-General Raul Gloodtdofsky Fernandez from Uruguay as head of the United Nations mission in India and Pakistan.

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2010 - 05:35 UTC

  EU raps European airports for failing to deal with freezing weather

  

  The European Union has strongly criticized European airports for failing to deal with recent freezing weather, which has left thousands of travellers stranded. Around 1,000 flights were cancelled across the continent on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2010 - 05:32 UTC

  Oil World reduces Argentine soybean crop estimates because of lack of rain

  

  Oil World has for a second time in two weeks reduced Argentina soybean crop hopes warning that, thanks to dry weather, it could be on course for a fall of more than 20%.

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2010 - 05:29 UTC

  Uruguay’s sky-blue colours celebrate a hundred years of glory and pride

  

  With the attendance of the country’s highest political authorities including President Jose Mujica and sports’ figures Uruguay celebrated Tuesday the hundredth anniversary of its sky-blue colours, world famous in international soccer.

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2010 - 05:26 UTC

  US ‘internet neutrality guidelines’ trigger controversy

  

  Amid a firestorm of criticism from both ends of the political spectrum, the United States Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday adopted the first-ever regulations for broadband Internet service, rules designed to foster the fast-evolving market for TV and movies over the Web.

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2010 - 05:18 UTC

  Carter wants Brazil to play a role in Mid East peace; US mediation exhausted

  

  On the same day that work began on a new Palestinian embassy in Brasilia, Brazilian president Lula da Silva said that peace in the Middle East was impossible with the United States as a mediator, reported the Palestine News Network.

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2010 - 05:06 UTC

  Portugal on notice for possible credit rating cut in next three months

  

  Portugal was put on notice that its credit rating could be cut and fellow Euro zone debtor Spain had to pay more to issue new debt, suggesting the currency bloc's crisis will rage unabated in 2011.

• Wednesday, December 22nd 2010 - 05:05 UTC

  OECD says Spain needs urgent labour market and tax reforms

  

  Spain is slowly emerging from recession but needs to cut spending further and introduce labour market reforms, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has said.

• Tuesday, December 21st 2010 - 19:32 UTC

  Toyota expects strong showing from production and sales overseas

  

  Toyota, the largest car-maker in the world is forecasting a 2% rise in global production across Toyota, Daihatsu and Hino models to 8.69 million units, compared to this year’s expected global output of 8.55 million units. Overseas production next year is expected to rise 6% to 4.81 million units, offsetting a 4% drop in domestic output to 3.89 million units.