International

• Tuesday, September 11th 2018 - 08:43 UTC

  EU Barnier's “realistic” comments on Brexit help prop sterling

  

  Sterling surged against the dollar and Euro on Monday after the European Union's chief negotiator said a Brexit deal was “realistic in six to eight weeks”. For the second time in less than a week, Michel Barnier has signaled his desire to move ahead on the Brexit negotiations, less than seven months before the United Kingdom is slated to leave the European Union on March 29, 2019.

• Tuesday, September 11th 2018 - 08:33 UTC

  UK economy outperforms boosted by services and construction sectors

  

  The United Kingdom economy bounced back in July as the services sector rebounded and construction output reached a record high. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy expanded 0.3% in July, while gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.6% on a three-month basis.

• Tuesday, September 11th 2018 - 04:39 UTC

  British Airways: Hackers access details of 380,000 passengers

  

  UK media are reporting the information includes credit card details, residential addresses and email details but the airline said the hackers had not accessed itineraries or passport details.

• Monday, September 10th 2018 - 09:09 UTC

  Message for Rosh Hashanah from Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt

  

  British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt sends warm wishes to the Jewish community as they prepare to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

• Monday, September 10th 2018 - 08:57 UTC

  Cocaine in wool bales exported to Europe, discovered in the port of Montevideo

  

  Uruguayan navy, coast guard and customs have uncovered a major operation to smuggle cocaine “bricks” hidden in wool bales, in a container, from the port of Montevideo to Antwerp, Belgium. The volume discovered according to the Navy report amounts to 417 kilos of high quality cocaine hydrochloride and is considered one of the largest recent successes in the fight against the narcotics gangs.

• Monday, September 10th 2018 - 08:37 UTC

  World's largest working offshore wind farm opens off the coast of Cumbria

  

  The world's largest working offshore wind farm - covering an area equal to 20,000 football pitches - has opened off the coast of Cumbria, north west England. The £1bn Walney facility already had 102 turbines before the completion of a further 87 earlier this year - dubbed the Walney Extension.

• Monday, September 10th 2018 - 08:30 UTC

  Pro and anti-whaling nations clash in Brazil; renewed attempt to create a South Atlantic Whale Sanctuary

  

  Pro and anti-whaling nations are set for a showdown when the International Whaling Commission (IWC) meets in Brazil from Monday as Japan leads an assault on a three-decade old moratorium on commercial whale hunting. Tokyo heads into the biennial meeting as chair of the 88-nation body determined to shake-up what it says is a dysfunctional organization mired in dispute and unable to make key decisions.

• Saturday, September 8th 2018 - 09:05 UTC

  Award for new map of South Georgia and the “Shackleton Crossing”

  

  British Antarctic Survey’s detailed map of the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia featuring the epic “Shackleton Crossing” has won an award at the 2018 British Cartography Society Awards.

• Saturday, September 8th 2018 - 09:01 UTC

  Giant iceberg “A68” takes off from Antarctica mainland to the Southern Ocean

  

  A large iceberg in Antarctica has calved off the Larsen C ice shelf as of July last year and budged only a little from the coast until recently. In the past two months, the iceberg, known as 'A68', has taken a drastic 90 degree swing away from the Antarctic mainland and into the Southern Ocean.

• Friday, September 7th 2018 - 14:26 UTC

  Agreement on recognition of university degrees between Argentina and the United Kingdom

  

  The governments of the UK and Argentina today signed an agreement that will facilitate academic cooperation through the mutual recognition of university degrees awarded by the universities of both countries.