International

• Tuesday, August 29th 2017 - 19:19 UTC

  UK and German commerce chambers call on Brexit negotiators to concentrate on “business issues”

  

  Shared economic interests must be a priority in the Brexit negotiations, UK and German trade bodies have urged. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and the Association of German Chambers of Commerce (DIHK) said uncertainty over “business critical” issues such as workers' rights, tax and customs arrangements needed to be tackled.

• Tuesday, August 29th 2017 - 19:08 UTC

  Norway's Statoil joins YPF to explore for hydrocarbons in Vaca Muerta shale

  

  Norway's Statoil, STO and YPF announced an agreement to explore hydrocarbons in the Vaca Muerta shale. Under the terms of the agreement, Statoil will enter the Bajo del Toro license block with a 50% interest. YPF will retain a 50% share and will remain the operator.

• Tuesday, August 29th 2017 - 11:36 UTC

  Premier Oil expects 2017 production in the range of 75.000/80.000 boepd

  

  Premier Oil has lifted its full-year production guidance as well as estimated resources at a huge oilfield it discovered off the coast of Mexico. Premier Oil, the operations of which stretch from Indonesia to the Falkland Islands, now expects 2017 production in the range of 75,000-80,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), up from the previous forecast of 75,000 boepd, thanks to its strongly performing North Sea fields.

• Tuesday, August 29th 2017 - 11:21 UTC

  Popular painkiller Ibuprofen raises risk of cardiac arrest, according to Danish researchers

  

  Taking ibuprofen to ease a headache may seem like no big deal, but Danish researchers caution against overdoing it. A study in the European Heart Journal suggests that ibuprofen, one of the most popular painkillers, raises a person's risk of cardiac arrest by 31%.

• Tuesday, August 29th 2017 - 10:55 UTC

  Confusion with £1 coins; new 12-sided replacement is being returned by mistake

  

  Efforts to phase out the old £1 coin are being hampered by companies who are returning the new 12-sided replacement by mistake. The old round pound ceases to be legal tender on 15 October, with a billion taken out of circulation already. But the removal process is being slowed down because about half of the £1 coins sent back are actually the new style, cash management company Vaultex says.

• Tuesday, August 29th 2017 - 08:15 UTC

  Urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to address North Korean missile launch

  

  The United Nations Security Council will meet late Tuesday to discuss the latest North Korea missile launch. North Korea fired a ballistic missile that passed over Japan early Tuesday local time, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters.

• Tuesday, August 29th 2017 - 07:56 UTC

  South Korean forces military exercises with live ammunition next to the DMZ

  

  South Korean President Moon Jae-in ordered his country's military on Tuesday to display its capabilities that can overwhelm North Korea should the communist state decide to attack, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said.

• Tuesday, August 29th 2017 - 07:43 UTC

  EU tells UK it must take withdrawal talks “seriously” and end “ambiguity”

  

  The UK has been told by the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator that it needs to take withdrawal talks “seriously”. Michel Barnier used the opening of a third round of talks in Brussels on Monday to insist that London must end “ambiguity” regarding key positions like the Brexit divorce bill.

• Monday, August 28th 2017 - 09:11 UTC

  Labour proposes a post-Brexit short “transitional period” and fee movement for working people

  

  Labour would keep the UK in the EU single market and customs union for a transitional period after leaving the EU, the party has said. Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer clarified Labor's position on leaving the EU in The Observer.

• Monday, August 28th 2017 - 08:56 UTC

  Third round of Brexit talks in Brussels with not much flexibility from either side

  

  Brexit Secretary David Davis is heading for a Brussels showdown, with a demand for the European Commission to be more “flexible” in negotiations on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. With the third round of formal talks beginning on Bank Holiday Monday in the Belgian capital, Davis is pushing for EU negotiator Michel Barnier to be less rigid in his refusal to discuss the post-Brexit relationship between the UK and Europe.