International

• Thursday, December 31st 2009 - 05:46 UTC

  Spain names first director for the Instituto Cervantes in Gibraltar

  

  Francisco Oda-Angel, the former director of the Instituto Transfronterizo will be officially assuming his post as the first director of the Gibraltar branch of the Instituto Cervantes (equivalent of the British Council) as from January 1st 2010, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.

• Thursday, December 31st 2009 - 04:47 UTC

  Sub zero temperatures across Britain will welcome the New Year

  

  Revellers are gearing up to give a warm welcome to 2010 even though sub-zero temperatures are expected across Britain. Final preparations are being made for huge fireworks displays to usher in the New Year in London and Glasgow.

• Thursday, December 31st 2009 - 04:35 UTC

  Amsterdam airport to install full-body scanners for flights to US

  

  Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport will begin using full-body scanners within three weeks to scan people travelling to the United States after consultations with US authorities, the Dutch interior minister said on Wednesday.

• Wednesday, December 30th 2009 - 09:59 UTC

  Special New Year with a blue moon in the Americas and partial eclipse in Asia

  

  The blue moon has long been a subject of poetry and one of those phrases that are used without quite understanding the meaning, but its presence is a scientific marker for a rotating earth that runs by its own clock, ignoring man’s calendar.

• Wednesday, December 30th 2009 - 09:52 UTC

  Obama: “a systemic failure” by US intelligence which is “totally unacceptable”

  

  A “systemic failure” by US intelligence allowed the alleged terrorist behind the Christmas Day airliner bomb plot to board the aircraft despite warnings about his extremist views, US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, December 30th 2009 - 09:48 UTC

  Companies listed in the London Stock Exchange raised record £ 82.5 billion

  

  Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) have raised a record £82.5bn from investors in 2009. The LSE said investors had been keen to take up offers of new shares despite continued concerns over the economy.

• Tuesday, December 29th 2009 - 12:13 UTC

  China poised to become world’s second largest economy in 2010

  

  China is expected to become in 2010 the world’s second largest economy displacing Japan according to economic forecasts from Beijing’s Statistics Office and reported in the China Daily.

• Tuesday, December 29th 2009 - 12:12 UTC

  First signs Beijing is reassessing bank loans and interest rates

  

  China admitted fears about increasing inflation, resulting from the strong stimuli program, and also cautioned that Beijing will not yield to foreign pressures to let the Yuan appreciate.

• Tuesday, December 29th 2009 - 08:36 UTC

  Massive stranding of whales in several New Zealand’s beaches

  

  More than 120 beached whales have died in two separate incidents in New Zealand, officials have said. Twenty one pilot whales that were beached on the North Island of New Zealand have been buried.

• Tuesday, December 29th 2009 - 08:07 UTC

  Shifting global climate and temperatures has many species on the move

  

  From beetles to barnacles, pikas to pine warblers, many species are already on the move in response to shifting climate regimes. But how fast will they -- and their habitats -- have to move to keep pace with global climate change over the next century?