
Britain's Conservatives have lost their majority in a snap general that has resulted in a hung parliament. With just a handful of seats left to declare, Thursday polls shows gains for the opposition Labour Party. This is seen as a humiliation for PM Minister Theresa May, who chose to call the election to try to strengthen her hand in talks with the EU on Brexit.

Germany and Argentina voiced hopes Thursday for a free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur as German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited Buenos Aires. In talks with Argentine President Mauricio Macri, Merkel discussed bilateral commerce and efforts to strike a deal with the Mercosur grouping of South American countries.

Falkland Islands lawmaker MLA Mike Summers, currently in Ottawa to meet Canadian Liberal and Conservative members of parliament, and government officials, stated that Canada has been a friend of the Falklands for many years and has always supported the right of self determination for people.

The Scottish National Party´s, SNP, former leader Alex Salmond has lost his Gordon seat amid a Scottish Conservative surge. The Tories also defeated the SNP's deputy leader Angus Robertson as they won seats across the country. The SNP finished on 35 seats - a majority of the 59 Scottish constituencies but a drop of 21 from the 56 they won in 2015.

Spanish Banco Popular has been rescued from the brink of collapse by larger rival Santander for one Euro. Buying Banco Popular will cost Santander 7bn euros, around 2bn euros more than analysts had expected. Banco Popular was described by the European Central Bank as failing or likely to fail due to its dwindling cash reserves.The bank has struggled after billions in property investments turned sour.

Germany's energy utilities look set to receive refunds of billions of euros after the government's tax on their use of nuclear fuel rods was declared illegal by the country's top court. Between 2011 and 2016, nuclear power operators made payments of more than 6bn euros to the government. The Constitutional Court has ruled the tax was unconstitutional and void.

Millions of people will be casting their vote in the UK general election later. Polls open at 07:00 BST at more than 40,000 polling stations across the country, with counting starting once voting ends at 22:00 BST. A total of 650 Westminster MPs will be elected, with about 46.9 million people registered to vote. That is up from the last general election, in 2015, when there were 46.4 million registered voters.

Barriers have been installed on three central London bridges following the latest terror attack to hit the British capital. The structures have been introduced to stop traffic from mounting the pavement on Westminster, Lambeth and Waterloo bridges.

The Falkland Islands government, FIG, has extended its welcome to Laurent Corbaz, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, project to identify the remains of the unknown Argentine soldiers buried at the Darwin Cemetery.

The Agreement on Port State Measures (PSMA) to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing, an international treaty aimed at stopping rogue fishing practices, gives the world all the instruments necessary to achieve our goal, FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva said.