International

• Tuesday, September 26th 2017 - 07:51 UTC

  PM May/Tusk meeting to advance on the Florence “constructive” speech

  

  British Prime Minister Theresa May will meet European Council President Donald Tusk on Tuesday - the first time since the PM set out plans for a two-year transition period post-Brexit. It comes a month before the council will decide whether sufficient progress has been made to begin trade talks.

• Monday, September 25th 2017 - 11:24 UTC

  Spain at UN calls UK to negotiate an agreement to resolve the question of Gibraltar

  

  Spain has repeated its traditional position on Gibraltar during an address to the UN General Assembly in New York, describing the Rock as “an anachronism” and highlighting Madrid’s co-sovereignty proposal. Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis focused on Gibraltar briefly during a 17-minute speech that covered key areas of Spanish foreign policy.

• Monday, September 25th 2017 - 11:05 UTC

  Wales blasts May for being “incapable of listening to other people's views”

  

  The prime minister and her cabinet “lack the basic skills” to get a good Brexit deal, Wales First Minister Carwyn Jones has claimed. Addressing the Labour Party conference in Brighton, the First Minister said Theresa May was “incapable of listening to other people's views”.

• Monday, September 25th 2017 - 10:56 UTC

  Labour divided over Brexit policy, but Corbyn upbeat about winning government for ten years

  

  Jeremy Corbyn is resisting pressure from Labour MPs to commit the party to keeping the UK in the EU single market after Brexit. As activists gathered in Brighton for the start of Labour’s annual conference, 30 senior figures have written an open letter calling for the party to do whatever it takes to keep Britain in the single market and the customs union.

• Monday, September 25th 2017 - 10:40 UTC

  Madrid and Barcelona clash over control of the Catalonia police force

  

  Spain’s central government and regional Catalan authorities argued this weekend over who controls the regional police force that is considered key to the success of a planned independence vote for the north-eastern region. The exchanges came as thousands of Catalan separatists rallied in public squares in Barcelona and other towns on Sunday in support of a disputed referendum on independence of from Spain.

• Monday, September 25th 2017 - 07:16 UTC

  Merkel wins fourth mandate, but only the hard right and small parties celebrate

  

  Chancellor Angela Merkel clinched a fourth term in Germany’s election Sunday, but her victory was clouded by the entry into parliament of the hard-right AfD in the best showing for a nationalist force since World War II. Merkel, who after 12 years in power held a double-digit lead for most of the campaign, scored around 33% of the vote with her conservative Christian Union (CDU/CSU) bloc, according to preliminary results.

• Monday, September 25th 2017 - 06:36 UTC

  Scottish lawmakers ask Madrid to allow Catalonia to decide its future democratically

  

  A cross-party group of Scottish politicians has asked the Spanish government to allow people in Catalonia to decide their future democratically. The move comes amid rising tensions in Spain, after the devolved Catalan administration decided to call an independence referendum next Sunday, which Madrid has described the move as illegal.

• Monday, September 25th 2017 - 05:39 UTC

  Moody's downgrades UK credit rating on concerns about public finances and Brexit

  

  UK's credit rating has been cut over concerns about the country's public finances and fears Brexit could damage the country's economic growth. Moody's, one of the major ratings agencies, downgraded the UK to an Aa2 rating from Aa1.

• Saturday, September 23rd 2017 - 10:36 UTC

  Brazil elections in 2018, for the first time will be observed by OAS

  

  The Organization of American States (OAS) will deploy an Electoral Observation Mission to Brazil’s general elections scheduled for October 2018. It will be the first time the hemispheric organization observes elections in Brazil.

• Friday, September 22nd 2017 - 12:16 UTC

  London mayor Khan will address the Labour party conference, after all

  

  London mayor Sadiq Khan is to address the Labour Party conference after initially being told he would not get a slot. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told BBC London: “Sadiq is speaking. I'm delighted to say he is and I'm looking forward to listening to him.”