Germany and Argentina voiced hopes Thursday for a free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur as German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Buenos Aires. In talks with Argentine President Mauricio Macri, Merkel discussed bilateral commerce and efforts to strike a deal with the Mercosur grouping of South American countries.
Former FBI Director James Comey asserted on Thursday that President Donald Trump fired him to interfere with his investigation of Russia's ties to the Trump campaign, bluntly accusing the White House of spreading lies, plain and simple. Comey also revealed that he'd orchestrated the public release of information about his private conversations with the president in an effort to further the investigation.
Falkland Islands lawmaker MLA Mike Summers, currently in Ottawa to meet Canadian Liberal and Conservative members of parliament, and government officials, stated that Canada has been a friend of the Falklands for many years and has always supported the right of self determination for people.
The Scottish National Party´s, SNP, former leader Alex Salmond has lost his Gordon seat amid a Scottish Conservative surge. The Tories also defeated the SNP's deputy leader Angus Robertson as they won seats across the country. The SNP finished on 35 seats - a majority of the 59 Scottish constituencies but a drop of 21 from the 56 they won in 2015.
The head of Brazil´s Superior Electoral Tribunal, TSE, Justice Gilmar Mendes added extraordinary sessions, including next Saturday, to continue considering the alleged political and economic abuse committed by the winning ticket of the 2014 elections, when Dilma Rousseff was reelected with Michel Temer as vice-president. According to court sources the decision to add sessions this week received unanimous support from his six co-Judges.
A majority of followers of ex Argentine president Cristina Fernandez “believe she is corrupt”, but far from questioning her “they think it is OK”, since “obviously she needed the money to get involved in politics”, according to Jaime Duran Barba, sociologist and chief electoral advisor of president Mauricio Macri.
To commemorate the 35th Anniversary of the Falklands Liberation, Pobjoy Mint has produced a ‘Lest We Forget’ Poppy coin in honor of the soldiers that gave their lives for the sovereignty of their country.
Spanish Banco Popular has been rescued from the brink of collapse by larger rival Santander for one Euro. Buying Banco Popular will cost Santander 7bn euros, around 2bn euros more than analysts had expected. Banco Popular was described by the European Central Bank as failing or likely to fail due to its dwindling cash reserves.The bank has struggled after billions in property investments turned sour.
Germany's energy utilities look set to receive refunds of billions of euros after the government's tax on their use of nuclear fuel rods was declared illegal by the country's top court. Between 2011 and 2016, nuclear power operators made payments of more than 6bn euros to the government. The Constitutional Court has ruled the tax was unconstitutional and void.
Millions of people will be casting their vote in the UK general election later. Polls open at 07:00 BST at more than 40,000 polling stations across the country, with counting starting once voting ends at 22:00 BST. A total of 650 Westminster MPs will be elected, with about 46.9 million people registered to vote. That is up from the last general election, in 2015, when there were 46.4 million registered voters.