CALGARY, Alberta, July 16 (UPI) -- While Chinese firms are snatching up Canadian energy assets overseas, costs and regulatory obstacles are keeping Asia out of domestic affairs.

STRASBOURG, France, July 16 (UPI) -- Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has British government support to become the first permanent president of the European Union, a spokeswoman said.

SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt, July 16 (UPI) -- Leaders from more than 100 Non-Aligned Movement nations meeting in Egypt aligned themselves against terrorism in a declaration up for adoption Thursday.

ACCRA, Ghana, July 15 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama's landmark visit to the West African state of Ghana on June 10-11, his first trip as president to the continent of his ancestors, held a special resonance for Big Oil and American businessmen.

U.S. President Barack Obama has scheduled a Rose Garden appearance to talk about healthcare reform, including support for the measure Democrats introduced in the House of Representatives.

ANKARA, Turkey, July 14 (UPI) -- A major 1,800-mile pipeline to bring gas from the Caspian Sea and the Middle East to Europe, while bypassing Russia, has been given a formal green light by the five states it will cross. An intergovernmental agreement to promote the Nabucco pipeline's construction has been signed in Ankara by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his counterparts from Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria.

LONDON, July 14 (UPI) -- London's Emerald Energy said talks are in the early stages on a possible takeover from Chinese state-owned oil companies moving in Middle East markets.

UPI Almanac for Tuesday, July 14, 2009.

COLLEGE PARK, Md., July 13 (UPI) -- University of Maryland economist Peter Morici called on President Obama to abandon the "conventional wisdom of the left" to pull the country out of recession.