The UK will expel 23 Russian diplomats after Moscow refused to explain how a Russian-made nerve agent was used on a former spy in Salisbury, the PM says. Theresa May said the diplomats, who have a week to leave, were identified as “undeclared intelligence officers”. She also revoked an invitation to Russia's foreign minister, and said the Royal Family would not attend the Fifa World Cup later this year.
Counter-terror police are leading an investigation into the “unexplained” death of a man in London. He is believed to be Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov, who claimed political asylum in the UK after being convicted of fraud.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has dismissed claims that people crossing the Irish border would have to pre-register after Brexit. Speaking from the United States, where he is conducting a series of St Patrick’s Day engagements, the Taoiseach said: “No, it is not a solution that we envisage.”
The UK will come to regret its decision to leave the European Union, Brussels’ top official has claimed. European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said things “cannot remain as they are” for the UK in its relationship with the EU after leaving the bloc.
Gina Haspel, 61, the newly nominated first-ever female director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is a career intelligence officer with more than 30 years' experience. Controversially, she ran a prison in Thailand where suspected al-Qaeda members were tortured by water-boarding in 2002.
German firms ideally want the UK to stay in a customs union after Brexit, a powerful German industry group says. BDI said it would prefer a deep form of integration between Britain and the EU after Brexit. It had previously said the integrity of the single market for remaining European Union member states should be a priority.
Argentina's central bank left the basic interest rate unchanged at 27.5%, a clear signal that inflation remains the main challenge of the country's monetary policy. The bank also revealed that last week it intervened in the local market with 400 million dollars to keep the US dollar in the range of 20/20,50 Pesos to the greenback.
Brazil will harvest 87.28 million tons of corn in the 2017-18 season, federal government crop agency Conab said in a monthly report, down from 88 million tons in its February report. The 2016-17 harvest was 97.84 million tons.
A controversial visit and meeting of two branches of government, on Saturday, was reported in the Brazilian media. In effect last Saturday afternoon president Michel Temer made a visit to the head of the Federal Supreme Tribunal Carmen Lucia at her residence, and was not conducted as part of the President’s official schedule.
January is summer month in Argentina, equivalent to July in the northern hemisphere, and Argentines love to take to the beaches or travel overseas. This last January, according to the official stats office, Indec, the number of arrived tourists in Argentina increased 8.7% compared to a year ago, but Argentines tourists overseas jumped 20.5%., most probably on the back of a particularly strong Peso vis-a-vis the US dollar.