Stories for August 2017

Tuesday, August 8th 2017 - 01:29 UTC
Israel follows hard line Sunni Arab states and plans to ban Al Jazeera

Israel is seeking to close Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera's offices in the country and revoke its journalists' media credentials. Communications Minister Ayoub Kara alleged that the channel supported terrorism, and said both its Arabic and English-language channels would be taken off air. Al Jazeera has condemned the decision.
Tuesday, August 8th 2017 - 01:14 UTC
Spain will not condition a Brexit deal to Gibraltar, but remains firm in its sovereignty claim of the Rock

Spain will not risk a Brexit deal by making Gibraltar’s sovereignty a condition in the talks, the country’s Foreign Minister said in an interview on Sunday. Speaking to the conservative newspaper ABC, Alfonso Dastis said Spain would not accept any agreement that undermined its position on Gibraltar, but would not use the Brexit talks to push its sovereignty aspirations over the Rock.
Monday, August 7th 2017 - 22:17 UTC
Cable lashes out at Brexit “martyrs” and accuses them of “masochism” and nostalgic of an imperial past

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable has lashed out at hard line Brexit “martyrs” who view economic pain as a price worth paying to break away from Brussels. Cable accused them of “masochism” and claimed older Brexit voters with views “colored by nostalgia from an imperial past” had imposed their will on a younger generation more comfortable with the European Union.
Monday, August 7th 2017 - 21:14 UTC
Brazilian army troops storm Rio favelas to crack crime gangs

Thousands of Brazilian army troops raided Rio de Janeiro slums in a pre-dawn crackdown on crime gangs over the weekend, leaving parts of the city looking like a war zone on the first anniversary of the opening of the Olympic Games. Five favelas were targeted by around 1,300 police and 3,600 troops in a sweep starting at 4 a.m., the Rio state security service said in a statement.
Monday, August 7th 2017 - 16:03 UTC
Falkland/Malvinas Islands: Forensic field work to identify remains of Argentine soldiers comes to an end

During seven weeks of intense work, which began on 20 June, a team of 14 specialists – from Argentina, Australia, Chile, Mexico, Spain and the United Kingdom – exhumed, analysed, sampled and documented the remains of each of the unidentified soldiers. The work was carried out in a high-tech temporary mortuary built on-site for the purposes of the operation.
Monday, August 7th 2017 - 07:47 UTC
Maduro controls attempt to trigger a military uprising

President Nicolas Maduro vowed that a band of anti-government fighters who attacked a Venezuelan army base will get the “maximum penalty” as his administration roots out his enemies. Troops killed two of the 20 intruders who slipped into the Paramacay base in the central city of Valencia early Sunday, apparently intent on fomenting a military uprising, Maduro said in his weekly broadcast on state television.
Monday, August 7th 2017 - 07:21 UTC
Lord King calls for a “credible fallback”, in case no EU trade deal is reached

The UK needs a “credible fallback” in case no EU trade deal is reached during Brexit negotiations, former Bank of England governor Mervyn King has said. Lord King said British negotiators needed to show Brussels the country has an alternative over a bad trade deal post-Brexit.
Monday, August 7th 2017 - 07:13 UTC
UK top ex diplomat says cabinet divided on Brexit and government has still to put forward a clear position

The UK's Brexit negotiations have not begun well amid “differences” inside the cabinet, a former head of the diplomatic service has said. Sir Simon Fraser, chief mandarin at the Foreign Office until 2015, said the UK side had been “a bit absent” from formal negotiations in Brussels.
Monday, August 7th 2017 - 06:27 UTC
Cristina Kirchner/Macri dispute Buenos Aires province Senate seat

With less than a week to the Argentine primaries next Sunday to chose candidates for the October midterm election, the dispute in the province of Buenos Aires which concentrates 35% of the national electorate is particularly interesting as decisive since ex president Cristina Fernandez has good chances of winning the Senate bench.
Monday, August 7th 2017 - 06:20 UTC
Banks leaving The City is serious, but “we should be concerned with investors leaving UK”

Investors pulling money out of The City pose a greater risk to London’s financial dominance than banks exiting the UK because of Brexit, according to Square Mile official, Sherry Madera, the City of London Corporation’s special adviser for Asia.