International

• Friday, February 22nd 2019 - 08:31 UTC

  Equal marriage controversy reaches BOTs: 5 out of 14 reluctant to approve the initiative

  

  A report from the UK Parliament’s foreign affairs committee has called on the government to extend equal marriage to the British Overseas Territories. Although equal marriage was legalized in England and Wales in 2013, and Scotland in 2014, the laws did not automatically extend to the British Overseas Territories, which include Bermuda, the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar.

• Thursday, February 21st 2019 - 15:33 UTC

  Labour and Tories face more resignations with Independent Group growing

  

  British Labour and Conservatives parties could face more resignations, with members of the new Independent Group saying they expect more MPs to join them. Ex-Tory MP Heidi Allen told ITV's Peston program “a third” of Tory MPs were fed up with the party's direction.

• Thursday, February 21st 2019 - 15:24 UTC

  Standard Chartered bank puts aside US$ 900m for potential fines in US and UK

  

  Standard Chartered is putting aside US$ 900 million for potential fines involving investigations in Britain and the US. The money will cover separate investigations into breaches of US sanctions and foreign exchange trading issues.

• Thursday, February 21st 2019 - 09:31 UTC

  Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy demand to meet Pope Francis

  

  Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy demanded on Wednesday to meet Pope Francis to press their call for the Church to apply a zero-tolerance policy including the dismissal of bishops who covered up such offences.

• Thursday, February 21st 2019 - 09:23 UTC

  Macri in Vietnam pledges closer relationship between the two countries

  

  Vietnam sees Argentina as its most important partner in Latin America and hopes to consolidate and strengthen its comprehensive partnership with the country, Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc said on Wednesday.

• Thursday, February 21st 2019 - 09:18 UTC

  Swiss bank UBS fined €3.7bn in France for helping clients launder proceeds of tax fraud

  

  Swiss banking giant UBS has been fined €3.7bn (US$4.2bn) in a French tax fraud case. A court in Paris found that the bank had illegally helped French clients hide billions of Euros from French tax authorities between 2004 and 2012.

• Thursday, February 21st 2019 - 08:38 UTC

  Corbyn tells Labour quitters they should “resign and put themselves up for election”

  

  Labour MPs who have quit the party should “resign and put themselves up for election”, Jeremy Corbyn has said. In a Twitter video, the Labour leader said it was the “democratic thing to do” because they wanted to “abandon the policies on which they were elected”.

• Thursday, February 21st 2019 - 08:34 UTC

  Taiwan to the rescue of “socialist” Ortega with a 20-year US$ 100 million loan

  

  Nicaragua's Congress on Tuesday accepted a US$ 100 million loan offered by Taiwan, giving a line of support to President Daniel Ortega's government, which has become increasingly isolated after a brutal crackdown on protesters last year.

• Thursday, February 21st 2019 - 08:26 UTC

  Theresa May's talks in Brussels scale down to “constructive” from “robust”

  

  British Prime Minister Theresa May said she held “constructive” talks in Brussels on Wednesday as she sought concessions on Brexit from a sceptical European Union, her strategy further battered by the defection of three lawmakers.

• Thursday, February 21st 2019 - 08:19 UTC

  Three Tories abandon the party and join Independent Group over “disastrous handling of Brexit”

  

  Three pro-EU lawmakers from Britain's ruling Conservatives quit over the “disastrous handling of Brexit” on Wednesday, in a blow to Prime Minister Theresa May's attempts to unite her party around plans to leave the European Union.