International

• Saturday, May 26th 2018 - 08:39 UTC

  Brexit talks in Brussels lead to strong exchanges with Chancellor Hammond

  

  Chancellor Philip Hammond has criticized claims from European Union officials that Britain has a “fantasy” approach to Brexit negotiations. Mr Hammond insisted that talks with EU officials were “constructive” after reports from the continent that Britain was being “unrealistic” and little progress made in discussions in recent days.

• Saturday, May 26th 2018 - 08:26 UTC

  China electric monorail system, cheaper than metro, for a major Brazilian city

  

  BYD, China’s biggest electric vehicle maker by sales, signed a 2.5 billion Brazilian real (US$ 689 million) deal this week to build a monorail system in Brazil’s Salvador city, the firm said. It’s the company’s biggest overseas monorail investment yet, according to a company spokesperson. Construction will start on the 20-kilometer route this year, and it’s expected to begin operations in 2021.

• Saturday, May 26th 2018 - 07:58 UTC

  South Korea and Mercosur agree in Seoul to begin formal negotiations for a free trade deal

  

  South Korea and Mercosur agreed to begin formal negotiations for a trade deal in the latter half of this year to facilitate commerce and investment, the Seoul government said on Friday. South Korea signed an agreement to launch the negotiations with four Mercosur member states -- Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay -- during a ceremony held in Seoul. Mercosur expelled Venezuela in 2016 for failing to meet its basic standards.

• Friday, May 25th 2018 - 08:27 UTC

  UK/Argentina agree to work together against antimicrobial resistance

  

  United Kingdom's Health and Social Care Secretary Jeremy Hunt has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Argentine Government to work together against antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the environment.

• Friday, May 25th 2018 - 08:23 UTC

  Blow to Rajoy: 29 members of the ruling party convicted for corruption

  

  A Spanish court has issued hefty prison sentences for politicians and business people involved in a kickbacks-for-contracts scheme that helped fund Spain’s governing party. The National Court’s decision is a major blow for Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s Partido Popular, fined 245,000 Euros because it benefited from the illegal scheme that was in place between 1999 and 2005.

• Friday, May 25th 2018 - 08:15 UTC

  Japan encouraging Central and South America to join the TPP trade pact

  

  Japan is encouraging more countries from Central and South America to join the reworked Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, in hopes of both capturing the potential of these markets and pressuring the U.S. to return to a framework it left last year.

• Thursday, May 24th 2018 - 08:35 UTC

  Six out of ten voters said UK's exit from EU increased prospect of splitting up

  

  Most voters are in favor of the Union but believe Brexit has made the break-up of the United Kingdom more likely, polling has found. In England, 68% of adults backed the UK status quo followed by 66% in Wales, 59% in Northern Ireland and 52% in Scotland, according to the ICM research. But across the four nations, up to six out of 10 voters said Britain’s exit from the European Union had increased the prospect of the UK splitting up.

• Thursday, May 24th 2018 - 08:31 UTC

  Manchester United the most valuable European football club, says KPMG

  

  Manchester United has again been named most valuable European football club, being worth about €3.25bn (£2.9bn) says business services group KPMG. The English club tops KPMG's study of top sides' “enterprise value”, ahead of Real Madrid and Barcelona.

• Thursday, May 24th 2018 - 07:55 UTC

  Boris Johnson highlights Chile as one of the great global countries for free trade

  

  British Foreign Secretary highlighted the close political links with Chile and commercial opportunities for UK companies during his brief visit to the country, as part of a more ambitious tour of other South American countries, Peru and Argentina.

• Thursday, May 24th 2018 - 07:32 UTC

  China expected to import record volumes of US oil and soy, to help ease trade tensions with the US

  

  China will import record volumes of U.S. oil and is likely to ship more U.S. soy after Beijing signaled to state-run refiners and grains purchasers they should buy more to help ease tensions between the two top economies, trade sources said on Wednesday.