International

• Tuesday, December 22nd 2009 - 14:21 UTC

  Hollywood celebrates: China looses appeal of WTO ruling on US films and books

  

  The World Trade Organization has upheld a ruling that China is illegally restricting US imports of music, films and books. The decision, issued Monday in Geneva, could force China to liberalize imports of media in the next year or face sanctions.

• Monday, December 21st 2009 - 13:05 UTC

  Greece on its own: no bail out from the European central bank

  

  Two leading Greek banks, Eurobank and Alphabank, have had their credit ratings downgraded by ratings agency Standard and Poor's while the European Central Bank said there will be no bail out for debt-stricken member states.

• Monday, December 21st 2009 - 12:59 UTC

  Beijing has over 4 million cars registered (2 million in 2003)

  

  China’s capital Beijing registry has reached 4,001,426 vehicles and 5,679,000 drivers, according to a release from the municipal government. The number of vehicles and drivers jumped 497,000 and 536,000 respectively in the last twelve months.

• Sunday, December 20th 2009 - 09:00 UTC

  NZ intercepts pirate tooth-fish long-liner “Carmela” in the Ross Sea

  

  An Illegal fishing vessel was detected by a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P3K Orion in the Ross Sea on Wednesday during a routine fisheries patrol.

• Saturday, December 19th 2009 - 12:10 UTC

  35 crew members missing from sunken livestock transport vessel

  

  The four Uruguayans on board the livestock transport vessel that was lost Thursday night off the coast of Lebanon are among 39 of the 83 crew members and stockmen rescued in the midst of high seas and strong winds.

• Saturday, December 19th 2009 - 11:53 UTC

  Key states reach “meaningful but modest” agreement at climate summit

  

  Key states have reached what they call a “meaningful agreement” at the Copenhagen climate summit. Five nations, including China and the US, reached a deal on a number of issues, such as a recognition to limit temperatures rises to less than 2C.

• Saturday, December 19th 2009 - 04:02 UTC

  Chavez picks on Holland for a verbal exchange; The Hague demands clarification

  

  The Netherlands government on Friday described as “groundless” the claims made by President Hugo Chávez in a speech on Thursday, when the Venezuelan ruler said that the Netherlands was plotting with United States “to target” Venezuela from the islands of Aruba and Curacao.

• Friday, December 18th 2009 - 12:51 UTC

  Ship loaded with Uruguayan livestock lost off Lebanon: 20 crew members rescued

  

  At least 20 crew members were rescued Thursday night after a cattle transport ship with more than 80 people capsized in waters off the coast of Tripoli when storms battered the eastern Mediterranean according to Lebanese security and United Nations sources.

• Friday, December 18th 2009 - 11:40 UTC

  Scaring Japanese whalers with an eerie intimidating Maori chant

  

  An international conservation society is using a small, space-age-like vessel to scare off whaling fleets from Antarctic waters, with a ghostly tune as its main weapon. The Ady Gil, a 24 metre carbon-fibre wave-piercing trimaran that runs on low-emission, renewable fuels, is the latest addition to the Sea Shepherd Conversation Society's protest fleet against Japan's yearly whale hunt near Antarctica, which is set to begin.

• Friday, December 18th 2009 - 08:28 UTC

  New Year for Gibraltar/Algeciras: ferry route reopened after four decades

  

  The ferry route linking Gibraltar and Algeciras reopened for business this week, forty years after it was forced to shut down by the closure of the border between Spain and the Rock, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.