International

• Thursday, October 19th 2017 - 08:14 UTC

  Spain facing its worst political storm in forty years: fears of social unrest in Catalonia

  

  Spain’s political showdown with Catalonia is set to reach a new level on Thursday when political leaders in Madrid and Barcelona are expected to make good on pledges made to their supporters to stick to their tough positions over the region’s future.

• Thursday, October 19th 2017 - 08:03 UTC

  WHO meeting in Uruguay agree on a Montevideo Roadmap for NCDs

  

  Heads of State and Government and ministers from around the world meeting in Uruguay committed to new and bold action to reduce suffering and death from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), primarily heart and lung diseases, cancers and diabetes, the world’s leading killers.

• Thursday, October 19th 2017 - 07:39 UTC

  Mercosur/EU trade deal again faces French foot dragging with Irish support

  

  France will propose changing the European Commission’s mandate to negotiate a trade deal with Mercosur bloc to include food safety provisions, its envoy to Brazil said on this week.

• Thursday, October 19th 2017 - 07:17 UTC

  UK banks allegedly involved in helping launder money stolen from South Africa

  

  UK banks may have been used to launder money stolen from South Africa, a former cabinet minister has alleged in a letter to Chancellor Philip Hammond. Labour Lord Peter Hain said a South African whistle-blower had indicated the banks “maybe inadvertently have been conduits for the corrupt proceeds of money”.

• Thursday, October 19th 2017 - 07:13 UTC

  UK Creative Industries warn they rely heavily on freelance staff, mainly from EU

  

  The Creative Industries Federation (CIF) said the £87bn a year the sector generated for the economy was at risk if immigration was restricted. The sector relies heavily on freelance staff, many of whom are from the EU, and the CIF is urging the government to negotiate free movement of UK and EU workers for short-term projects.

• Thursday, October 19th 2017 - 06:57 UTC

  China has entered a “new era” and should “take centre stage in the world”, Xi announces

  

  China has entered a “new era” where it should “take centre stage in the world”, President Xi Jinping says. The country's rapid progress under “socialism with Chinese characteristics” shows there is “a new choice for other countries”, he told the Communist Party congress.

• Wednesday, October 18th 2017 - 11:56 UTC

  UK inflation climbs to 3% in September, mainly because of the fall in sterling

  

  The UK's key inflation rate hit its highest for more than five years in September, driven up by increases in transport and food prices. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) climbed to 3%, a level it last reached in April 2012, and up from 2.9% in August. The pick-up in inflation raises the likelihood of an increase in interest rates - currently 0.25% - next month.

• Wednesday, October 18th 2017 - 11:47 UTC

  Identification of unknown Argentine combatants buried in Falklands advancing according to agenda

  

  The forensic team from the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, involved in the Falklands Humanitarian Project is currently analyzing the DNA samples taken from the Argentine soldiers remains buried at the Darwin cemetery in the Islands, and defining strategies that should allow the delivery of results to the Argentine, and United Kingdom governments.

• Wednesday, October 18th 2017 - 08:42 UTC

  Galician fishing industry recovering and investment in new vessels picking up

  

  The Galician fishing industry is undergoing a boom as Spain recovers from the economic crisis that had caused a halt in the construction of new vessels and investments on new processing plants in recent years, Javier Fraga Diaz, director with Spanish bank Abanca's maritime unit (Banca Mar), revealed.

• Wednesday, October 18th 2017 - 08:28 UTC

  China's credit rating downgraded by S&P, “but might still be too good”

  

  China's credit rating has been downgraded by Standard & Poor's (S&P) because of worries over the rapid buildup of debt in the country. S&P cut China's rating by one notch from AA- to A+, saying its debts had raised “economic and financial risks”.