International

• Thursday, October 18th 2018 - 08:12 UTC

  US targets China on international rates for parcels sent by post service

  

  The United States has announced plans to withdraw from a 144-year-old postal treaty, which the White House says lets China ship goods at unfairly low prices. The United Nations treaty sets lower international rates for packages from certain countries, a move originally designed to support poorer nations.

• Thursday, October 18th 2018 - 07:04 UTC

  Brussels No deal: Brexit transition could be extended full year? Brexiteers furious

  

  Brexit-backing MPs have reacted angrily to the idea that the United Kingdom's transition out of the European Union could be extended for another year, to the end of 2021. Downing Street refused to rule out an extension after a Wednesday summit of EU leaders in Brussels failed to make progress.

• Wednesday, October 17th 2018 - 11:41 UTC

  Women allowed in for first time as Iran defeat Bolivia in football friendly

  

  The friendly football match between Iran and Bolivia Wednesday in Tehran marked the first time women were allowed to attend a stadium since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The Iranian squad defeated Bolivia 2-1.

• Wednesday, October 17th 2018 - 09:16 UTC

  Germany urges responsibility on Brexit ahead of European Council summit

  

  Germany has urged UK's Theresa May to “take responsibility” for Brexit, as a crunch summit approaches with no sign of any breakthrough in negotiations. The Prime Minister was briefing senior ministers in an extended session of Cabinet ahead of Wednesday’s European Council meeting at which it had initially been hoped to conclude the UK’s withdrawal deal.

• Wednesday, October 17th 2018 - 09:04 UTC

  Global streaming shock: over an hour outage of YouTube

  

  YouTube, the second most visited website in the world, had experienced an outage across its various platforms on Tuesday night for more than an hour. The Google-owned streaming site took to Twitter to thank users for “your reports about YouTube, YouTube TV and YouTube Music access issues.”

• Wednesday, October 17th 2018 - 08:52 UTC

  Another headache for the EU: Italy and its populist budget

  

  Italy's government on Tuesday pushed the country closer to a showdown with the European Union after submitting its latest budget for review. The budget proposes increases both Italy's overall government debt and its deficit in the short run pushing the deficit as high as 2.4% of GDP over the coming years. This means Italy will fall foul of a previously mandated maximum deficit level of 0.8% of GDP.

• Wednesday, October 17th 2018 - 08:51 UTC

  Audi agrees to pay US$ 930m fine for rigging diesel vehicles

  

  German luxury automaker Audi will pay a fine of roughly US$930 million to settle regulatory action in its home country for rigging some of its diesel vehicles with illegal software designed to defeat emissions tests, the company said on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, October 17th 2018 - 08:45 UTC

  Bolsonaro's foreign policy: following on Trump, “Make Brazil Great”

  

  The far-right front-runner in Brazil’s presidential race plans to put foreign policy in the hands of a diplomat who has praised the nationalist agenda of U.S. President Donald Trump that has shaken the global order, an adviser to the candidate said.

• Wednesday, October 17th 2018 - 08:35 UTC

  Europol helps bust illegal bluefin tuna market in southern Europe

  

  Europol have coordinated an international operation with authorities from France, Italy, Malta, Spain and Portugal to arrest 79 individuals for their involvement in Europe’s bluefin tuna market. Operation Tarantelo was launched when the Spanish Guardia Civil noted irregularities involving bluefin tuna fishing in the Mediterranean Sea.

• Wednesday, October 17th 2018 - 08:34 UTC

  Ireland is getting Brexit-ready and has earmarked funds in next year's budget

  

  Ireland is stepping up preparations for physical infrastructure at ports and airports after Brexit, premier Leo Varadkar said. Irish ministers held detailed discussions in Dublin on Tuesday surrounding the hiring of customs officers and veterinary inspectors as well as the upgrading of IT systems.