International

• Friday, December 14th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Passenger jet link to Australian Antarctic Territory ice runway

  

  A passenger jet has made a historic landing on a new blue ice runway in Australia's Antarctic territory and regular flights are expected to start within a week, officials said Wednesday.

• Wednesday, December 12th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Global warming threatens Antarctic penguin population

  

  The penguin population of Antarctica is under pressure from global warming, according to a WWF report released this week.

• Wednesday, December 12th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Accidents and impacts management in Antarctic waters

  

  Accidents can always happen but the target is to minimize impacts and advance contingency plans for such situations in the framework of the Antarctic Treaty, said Chile's Dr. Alvaro Sapag, chairman of the Chilean Environment Commission during a meeting on the Antarctic environment held in Punta Arenas.

• Tuesday, December 11th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  China and US begin round of trade and currency talks

  

  United States and China have played down their differences ahead of a series of high-level trade talks taking place this week in Beijing. China's product safety record, its massive trade surplus and what some in Washington see as Beijing's currency manipulation are high on the agenda.

• Sunday, December 9th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Southampton's proud tradition receives queen of the seas

  

  The new queen of the seas arrived in Southampton Friday to extend a proud tradition. The £300million Queen Victoria berthed for the first time in what will be her home port for years of luxury cruising

• Sunday, December 9th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  South Korea declares state of disaster in oil-spill coastline

  

  The South Korean government has declared a “state of disaster” along a stretch of coastline affected by the country's worst ever oil spill. A fleet of 100 ships are fighting to contain the (66.000 barrels) 10-000 ton spill, but emergency workers have been unable to prevent the oil washing ashore.

• Saturday, December 8th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Fears of US slowdown seem to be affecting Japanese economy

  Japan revealed Friday that its economy grew by much less than previously thought in the third quarter of 2007 amid a housing slump and slower investment by firms in new factories and equipment.

• Friday, December 7th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Euro-zone rates unchanged in spite of inflation pressure

  

  The European Central Bank left on Thursday interest rates unchanged at 4%, in line with analysts' expectations and in spite of strong short term upward pressure on inflation.

• Friday, December 7th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Lesson One: how do you say Panama Canal in Chinese?

  

  Panama is moving to make the teaching of Mandarin compulsory in all schools, in recognition of China's growing importance in the world economy. The Panamanian National Assembly has given conditional approval to the bill in the first of three debates.

• Friday, December 7th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  China's booming economy running out of spare capacity

  China should let its currency rise faster to help it counter overheating in its booming economy, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development suggested in a report this week.