International

• Thursday, February 7th 2019 - 10:11 UTC

  Guaido insists with humanitarian aid for Venezuela, but the Army blocks access

  

  Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido stepped up efforts on Wednesday to win recognition from EU holdout states and insisted the armed forces allow desperately needed humanitarian aid to enter the country.

• Thursday, February 7th 2019 - 10:01 UTC

  All horse racing in UK cancelled because of outbreak of equine fever

  

  All British horse racing meetings on Thursday have been cancelled because of an outbreak of equine flu. The decision by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) comes after three vaccinated horses in an active yard tested positive for the disease.

• Thursday, February 7th 2019 - 09:50 UTC

  New Zealand' dairy industry struggling with an outbreak of Mycoplasma bovis

  

  While experts struggle to pinpoint the original source of the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak, New Zealand Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor says resources may be better spent on bio security systems that prevent similar outbreaks. Last May the New Zeland government announced it would try to eradicate the disease, which can cause mastitis and abortions in cows, ordering a phased culling program that's expected to cost close to US$ 700 million.

• Thursday, February 7th 2019 - 09:46 UTC

  Tusk's comments on Brexit and hell trigger massive exchange of surprising tweeting

  

  European Council President Donald Tusk has spoken of a “special place in hell” for “those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan of how to carry it out safely”. He was speaking after talks with Irish leader Leo Varadkar in Brussels.Brexit-backing MPs reacted with anger to the comments, accusing Mr Tusk of “arrogance”.

• Thursday, February 7th 2019 - 09:23 UTC

  Theresa May on “alternative arrangements” mission to Brussels and Dublin

  

  The British Prime Minister Theresa May will visit Dublin on Friday evening for Brexit talks, Ireland's Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said. Mr Varadkar was speaking after his meeting with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels this afternoon.

• Thursday, February 7th 2019 - 09:16 UTC

  Last four years the hottest on record, confirms UN's Meteorological Office

  

  The last four years were the hottest since global temperature records began, the UN confirmed on Wednesday in an analysis that it said was a “clear sign of continuing long-term climate change”. The UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in November that 2018 was set to be the fourth warmest year in recorded history, stressing the urgent need for action to rein in runaway planetary warming.

• Thursday, February 7th 2019 - 07:44 UTC

  Bank Of America: Oil Demand Growth To Hit Zero Within A Decade

  

  By 2030, oil demand could hit a peak and then enter decline, according to a new report. For the next decade or so, oil demand should continue to grow, although at a slower and slower rate. According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the annual increase in global oil consumption slows dramatically in the years ahead. By 2024, demand growth halves, falling to just 0.6 million barrels per day (mb/d), down from 1.2 mb/d this year.

• Wednesday, February 6th 2019 - 09:09 UTC

  Sexual abuse of nuns by clerics, including abortions, 'and still going', was admitted by Pope Francis

  

  Pope Francis has admitted that clerics have sexually abused nuns, and in one case they were kept as sex slaves. He said in that case his predecessor, Pope Benedict, was forced to shut down an entire congregation of nuns who were being abused by priests.

• Wednesday, February 6th 2019 - 09:05 UTC

  UK seminar for Overseas Territories on safe maritime trade and seabed mapping

  

  The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) have launched a five-day capacity building seminar to help UK Overseas Territories, including the Falkland Islands, support safe maritime trade. The seminar, delivered as part of the government’s Overseas Territories Seabed Mapping Program, will focus on international regulations, with sessions on maritime safety information training, best practice governance and maritime law.

• Wednesday, February 6th 2019 - 08:58 UTC

  US humanitarian aid stationed at the Colombia/Venezuela border

  

  Trucks carrying food and medical supplies sent by the United States to be stockpiled until it can be brought into Venezuela will arrive later this week at Guaido’s request and will be prepositioned at the main Colombian-Venezuelan border crossing at Cucuta, U.S. sources revealed