
Venezuela's close ally China said it believed voting in the country's Constituent Assembly election was generally held smoothly, brushing off widespread condemnation from the United States, Europe and others and evidence of voting irregularities.

United States president Donald Trump grudgingly signed into law new sanctions against Russia on Wednesday, a move Moscow said amounted to a full-scale trade war and an end to hopes for better ties with the Trump administration. Congress overwhelmingly approved the legislation last week, passing a measure that conflict with the Republican president's desire to improve relations with Moscow.

Argentine president Mauricio Macri received on Wednesday Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, who had anticipated the purpose of the visit was to deepen UK-Argentine economic partnership and address political issues of common interest, such as the 2018 G20 summit and Argentina's aspiration to join OECD.

The unemployment rate in the Euro zone has fallen to its lowest since February 2009, according to the latest official figures. The rate dropped to 9.1% last month, from a downwardly revised 9.2% in May. Separately, inflation remained unchanged in July at 1.3%, according to a preliminary estimate from Eurostat, the European Union's statistics office.

Philip Hammond has been backed by former Tory leader Lord Hague amid ongoing Cabinet tensions about the approach to Brexit. The ex-foreign secretary said the Chancellor deserves credit for pushing for a transitional deal which preserves close ties to Brussels, giving time for a new trading relationship to be established and avoiding turning Brexit into a disaster.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer begins on Wednesday a round of trade, investment and political contacts in Argentina, following a two day visit to Brazil, as part of a tour of South America's biggest economy. It will be the most important visit of a British cabinet minister in over sixteen years to Argentina.

By Mike Gapes (*) For the future security and stability of our country, our continent and the world this is the worst possible moment for the UK to be leaving the European Union. Unfortunately, we are planning to leave our European partners at a time when there is going to be less and less agreement amongst the most important countries about how to deal with current and emerging global problems.

An estimated twenty European Union countries are expected to submit bids to provide a new home for two agencies that will be relocated from the UK after Brexit. The European Banking Authority (EBA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA), based in Canary Wharf in London, employ just over 1,000 staff between them.

Facebook was forced to shut down one of its artificial intelligence systems after researchers discovered that it had started communicating in a language that they could not understand. The incident evokes images of the rise of Skynet in the iconic Terminator series. Perhaps Tesla CEO Elon Musk is right about AI being the biggest risk we face.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called on Monday on Venezuela’s government to take urgent action to stop the division in society following Sunday's the Constituent Assembly vote. Venezuela stands on the brink of disaster and Nicholas Maduro’s government must stop before it is too late. The country is turning on itself – more than 100 have died already – and democracy and basic rights are in jeopardy, said Boris Johnson.