Cyprus assumed the presidency for the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) of the EU on January 1st 2012, as Denmark, the current Presidency of the European Council, does not participate in the European Defence Agency (EDA). Cyprus along with Denmark and Poland form the trio Presidency of the European Council. Currently Denmark holds the
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The latest bird flu virus that killed a 39-year-old bus driver in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen over the weekend is not yet transmissible between humans, Chinese health authorities said. "The virus found in the patient was 90 percent similar to H5N1 viruses previously isolated in ducks in China, which suggested that the man
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Two robotic probes began orbiting the moon Sunday in preparation for an unprecedented mission to map the lunar interior. NASA's twin Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft wrapped up 2.6-million-mile journey to put themselves into lunar orbit on Saturday and Sunday. Over the next two months, the probes' 34-mile-high orbits will be adjusted
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An arbitration panel has awarded U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp $908 million in compensation for Venezuela's 2007 nationalization of its assets, less than 10 percent of what the company sought in a long legal battle with the OPEC nation. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez likely will celebrate the ruling as a vindication of his nationalist
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Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will meet this week after more than a year of deadlocked peacemaking, officials said on Sunday, but both sides played down prospects of any imminent resumption of talks. Yitzhak Molcho of Israel and Palestinian counterpart Saeb Erekat will meet on Tuesday in Jordan alongside representatives of the Quartet of Middle East
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It's up to the consumer to drive the U.S. economy and lift world growth in 2012, and the outlook is far from encouraging. Over the past three and half years, growth in U.S. consumer spending has averaged a paltry 0.2 percent adjusted for inflation, the weakest in the post-World War II period, Morgan Stanley says.
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Londoners waking on Sunday with blurred vision and throbbing heads will not have to wait long for their next party as the city enters its Olympic year and prepares to host the sporting show of a lifetime. Queen Elizabeth's diamond jubilee, marking 60 years of her reign, will be celebrated in June followed by England's
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Asian stocks nudged higher and the euro clung to overnight gains on Friday, the last trading day of 2011, as positive data from the United States helped allay concerns on the global economy, while year-end short covering lifted crude prices. Still, the region's stocks have collectively lost about a fifth of their value this year,
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A remote volcano in Alaska's Aleutian Islands erupted violently early on Thursday, spouting an ash cloud 15,000 feet (4,570 metres) into the sky and prompting an air-traffic alert, scientists said. The Cleveland Volcano, located on an uninhabited island 940 miles (1,500 km) southwest of Anchorage, had been oozing lava and gas since July. Ash from
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