International

• Tuesday, May 16th 2017 - 10:34 UTC

  China convenes 29 world leaders to launch its Silk Road plan to forge peace and free trade

  

  Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged US$124 billion for his ambitious new Silk Road plan to forge a path of peace, inclusiveness and free trade, and called for the abandonment of old models based on rivalry and diplomatic power games.

• Tuesday, May 16th 2017 - 10:04 UTC

  Brazil states RAF Hercules flights from or to Falklands are “humanitarian motivated”

  

  The Brazilian government discards any “irregularities” in allowing British military aircraft, flying to or from the Falkland Islands, landing in its airports since the authorizations are humanitarian motivated, revealed a source from the Brazilian government to the Argentine news agency, Telam.

• Tuesday, May 16th 2017 - 07:52 UTC

  Generational shift in France: Macron names a Conservative, 46, prime minister

  

  In his first major decision, newly inaugurated French President Emmanuel Macron has named conservative lawmaker Edouard Philippe as prime minister. Philippe has been the mayor of Le Havre, a port city in the Normandy region of northern France, since 2010 and became a member of parliament for the region two years later.

• Tuesday, May 16th 2017 - 07:32 UTC

  JP Morgan buys new office building in Dublin which can accommodate 1.000 staff

  

  JP Morgan, the US investment bank, has bought a new office building in Dublin that can accommodate up to 1,000 staff. The bank said the purchase reflected its thriving existing business in Dublin, where it employs 500 staff, however the new office may provide space for hundreds of JP Morgan workers that it plans to relocate from London following the Brexit decision.

• Tuesday, May 16th 2017 - 07:13 UTC

  Macron and Merkel's “joint conviction” of the need to “deepen the European Union”

  

  France's new president, Emmanuel Macron, has called for a “historic reconstruction” of Europe, saying it is “the only reaction” to fight populism. Speaking in Berlin on the first full day of his presidency, he was joined by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said the pair had a “joint conviction” that they needed to “deepen the European Union”.

• Monday, May 15th 2017 - 11:11 UTC

  Macri begins official visit to China and attends development forum with 27 world leaders

  

  Argentine president Mauricio Macri, First Lady Juliana Awada, and members of the official delegation were received on Sunday by Chinese president Xi Jinping and his wife at the Great Palace of the People, where they were hosted together with 27 world leaders in the framework of the One Belt, One Road, OBOR, Beijing's ambitious international cooperation forum.

• Monday, May 15th 2017 - 07:46 UTC

  EU prepared to block Brexit talks unless citizenship measures are “reasonable”

  

  The European Parliament could seek to block talks on a UK-EU trade deal unless guarantees are put in place for the rights of citizens, the MEP in charge of the process has indicated. Guy Verhofstadt, the parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, said MEPs would have to decide whether sufficient progress had been made on issues including EU citizens’ rights in the UK and those of British expatriates on the continent before talks on Britain’s future relationship with Brussels could proceed.

• Monday, May 15th 2017 - 07:28 UTC

  Microsoft warns governments the latest global cyber-attack is a “wake-up call”

  

  The cyber-attack that has hit 150 countries since Friday should be treated by governments around the world as a “wake-up call”, Microsoft says. The computing giant said software vulnerabilities hoarded by governments had caused “widespread damage”.

• Monday, May 15th 2017 - 07:01 UTC

  Merkel en route to a fourth term: her party unseats Social Democrats in key state election

  

  Germany's Christian Democrats (CDU) have unseated the Social Democrats in a key state election, exit polls are indicating. Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU is projected to win 34.5% of votes in North Rhine-Westphalia, compared with 30.5% for the Social Democrats (SPD). It was seen as a test for Mrs. Merkel ahead of September's general election.

• Monday, May 15th 2017 - 06:46 UTC

  Sovereignty of the Falklands will not be undermined, pledges Labour shadow foreign secretary

  

  UK Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry has accused Michael Fallon of talking “bollocks” after the defense secretary claimed she wanted to negotiate with Argentina over the future of the Falklands. In a spiky exchange on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Thornberry hit back at Fallon, saying: “That is bollocks. It’s untrue,” and adding: “You can’t just make this stuff up.”