International

• Monday, July 19th 2010 - 02:45 UTC

  EU almost free of ‘mad-cow’ plans to soften 1996 regulations

  

  The nightmare of BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis – or Mad Cow Disease) is mercifully almost forgotten in the EU now. In total almost 200,000 cases of BSE were discovered in the EU. But there were only 67 cases last year and those were in very old animals probably infected many years ago.

• Monday, July 19th 2010 - 00:36 UTC

  Stone promises to keep exposing the “white man” but with a doses of entertainment

  

  “It’s always a simple repeat of what happens in Iraq, Afghanistan or South America. It’s the white man who fights people he believes are inferior”, confessed US filmmaker Oliver Stone talking about his recent “South of the Border”.

• Monday, July 19th 2010 - 00:15 UTC

  World production of rough rice affected by dry weather in Mekong River

  

  Global production of rough rice, the staple for half the world’s population, may be 6 million tons less than estimated earlier this year after prolonged dry weather in the Mekong River region hurt crops, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

• Saturday, July 17th 2010 - 06:47 UTC

  The Foreign Office report on British Behaviour Abroad 2009/2010

  

  Lack of travel insurance and inadequate preparation compound the hazards faced by many Britons abroad, according to the Foreign Office’s new British Behaviour Abroad report.

• Saturday, July 17th 2010 - 06:32 UTC

  Paul, the oracle octopus not for sale Germany tells Madrid zoo

  

  The Madrid zoo made this week a transfer bid for Paul the oracle octopus his aquarium in Germany it would outbid all others and give him a warm welcome in gratitude for predicting Spain’s soccer World Cup win.

• Friday, July 16th 2010 - 07:54 UTC

  New UK government retakes Trilateral talks with Spain and Gibraltar

  

  The first set of high level Trilateral technical talks involving a UK Conservative-Liberal coalition government are to take place in Gibraltar next week, it was formally confirmed.

• Thursday, July 15th 2010 - 06:35 UTC

  Argentina confident soy-oil dispute with China will be solved “in the short term”

  

  Argentine Ambassador to China, César Mayoral announced in Beijing that the soybean oil conflict with Beijing that has been ongoing since the beginning of the year “will be solved in the short term.”

• Thursday, July 15th 2010 - 06:23 UTC

  Recession-hit Britons cut back on overseas travel in 2009

  

  Recession-hit Britons cut back on overseas travel last year, with business trips down by almost a quarter, the UK Office for National Statistics announced this week.

• Wednesday, July 14th 2010 - 06:07 UTC

  Argentina/China sign 18 agreements; discussions to solve soy-oil dispute

  

  China and Argentina signed 18 agreements covering infrastructure, energy and railway projects on Tuesday during Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner second day official visit which included talks with her Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao and with Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu.

• Wednesday, July 14th 2010 - 05:18 UTC

  A country full of gratitude defies freezing weather to honour Uruguay’s soccer team

  

  Tens of thousands of Uruguayans took to the streets of Montevideo defying freezing weather and polar gusts to cheer and honour the ‘sky blue’ national team which came back from South Africa with a fourth place and striker Diego Forlan with the Golden Ball as the World’s Cup's best player.