International

• Sunday, August 26th 2018 - 11:29 UTC

  First LNG-powered cruise ship floated at Meyer shipyard in Papenburg, Germany

  

  First aver LNG-powered cruise ship was floated at Meyer shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. It will now be positioned at the shipyard’s dock for final hotel outfitting ahead of a delivery this autumn.The AIDAnova LNG-powered 5,200-guest cruise ship, which features a ‘green cruising’ design, has been built in compliance with the rules of classification society RINA.

• Sunday, August 26th 2018 - 03:05 UTC

  Norwegian Air planning to operate domestic flights in Brazil

  

  Low-cost Norwegian Air is interested in operating domestic flights within Brazil, a government official said, as it plans its debut in Latin America’s largest economy in March with a flight between Sao Paulo and England.

• Sunday, August 26th 2018 - 02:51 UTC

  Pope Francis in Ireland pledges to end the repugnant sexual exploitation of children

  

  Pope Francis vowed on Saturday to end the “repugnant” sexual exploitation of children by Catholic clergy as he made a highly-charged visit to once devout Ireland where years of reported abuse have driven many Irish away from the Church.

• Sunday, August 26th 2018 - 02:11 UTC

  Centennial of the launching of “The Mighty Hood”

  

  A ceremony has been held in Clydebank to mark the centenary of the launch of one of Britain's largest warships. The battle-cruiser HMS Hood was launched at John Brown's shipyard in Clydebank on 22 August 1918. Until the commissioning of the new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, there had never been a bigger British warship than “The Mighty Hood”.

• Sunday, August 26th 2018 - 01:26 UTC

  Central banks reviewing “phasing out cash” because of IT failures, hacking and alienation

  

  Europe’s central bankers are warning that a gradual phase-out of cash in many countries poses a serious threat to the financial system, as relying too heavily on digital payment systems exposes them to catastrophic failures in the event of cyber attacks.

• Friday, August 24th 2018 - 08:55 UTC

  Uruguay players support FIFA's decision to take temporary control of AUF

  

  Several Uruguayan international players used their social media channels to share a letter in support to FIFA's decision to take temporary control of the country's soccer federation because of governance concerns. The letter, tweeted out by team stars such as Luis Suarez and Diego Godin, says it would bring “transparency, democracy and plurality” to the federation, known as the AUF.

• Friday, August 24th 2018 - 08:32 UTC

  African swine fever in China: fourth outbreak in a 2.000kms radius in three weeks

  

  China which is home to the world’s largest pig herd, reported its fourth outbreak of the deadly African swine fever on Thursday, with more than 400 pigs infected as the disease entered a fourth province, fanning worries about its rapid spread. The infection killed 340 hogs on three farms in the coastal city of Wenzhou in eastern Zhejiang province, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in a statement.

• Thursday, August 23rd 2018 - 09:02 UTC

  Labour leader Corbyn to propose tax on tech giants to pay for public interest journalism

  

  A windfall tax could be levied on tech giants such as Google, Amazon and Facebook to pay for public interest journalism, Jeremy Corbyn is expected to announce. The Labour leader will call for radical reform of the media landscape in a speech at the Edinburgh TV Festival.

• Thursday, August 23rd 2018 - 08:40 UTC

  Scotland urges London to rule out a “deeply damaging and disruptive” no deal Brexit

  

  Scotland's Brexit secretary has urged the UK government to rule out a “no deal Brexit”, arguing that it would be “deeply damaging and disruptive”. Michael Russell was speaking ahead of a major speech by his UK government counterpart Dominic Raab.

• Thursday, August 23rd 2018 - 08:33 UTC

  First container vessel attempting the melting Arctic sea route north of Russia

  

  Danish vessel setting sail from Vladivostok this week is set to become the first container ship to tackle the Arctic sea route north of Russia. The Venta Maersk, owned by Maersk Line, and carrying 3,600 containers, hopes to reach St Petersburg by late September. That could be up to 14 days faster than the southern route via the Suez Canal.