International

• Monday, December 5th 2016 - 11:31 UTC

  EU sigh of relief: Austria votes for independent, rejects anti migrant candidate

  

  Independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen, a pro-EU left wing who preached moderation, has won Austria's presidential election on Sunday over right-wing populist Norbert Hofer. A former leading member of the Green Party, Van der Bellen was the hope of Austrians who wanted to stop Hofer, a leader of the anti migrant and anti EU Freedom Party.

• Monday, December 5th 2016 - 11:06 UTC

  Euro skids to a 20-month low on Rienzi's resignation; all eyes on EU Central bank

  

  The Euro skidded to a 20-month low after Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said he would resign following a stinging defeat on constitutional reform that could destabilize the country's shaky banking system. Renzi's defeat deals a body blow to the European Union already reeling under anti-establishment anger that led to the shock exit of UK from the club in June this year.

• Monday, December 5th 2016 - 10:53 UTC

  Italy's Rienzi resigns following rejection of his proposed constitutional reforms

  

  Italian voters have dealt a serious defeat to the government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. In a referendum Sunday, they rejected Renzi's proposed constitutional reforms, which would have changed the balance of power between the executive and Parliament.

• Monday, December 5th 2016 - 10:49 UTC

  New Zealand Prime minister steps down after eight years in office

  

  New Zealand Prime Minister John Key surprised his country, announcing that he would be resigning in a week's time. Key, who is also leader of the National Party, made his decision public at a press conference on Monday local time.

• Monday, December 5th 2016 - 08:30 UTC

  Falklands: Argentine diplomats in Geneva for talks on identifying remains of soldiers at Darwin cemetery

  

  Diplomats from the Malvinas Desk of the Argentine Foreign ministry have travelled to Geneva for crucial meetings later this week with their British, Falklands counterparts and Red Cross members to reach a definitive agreement on the DNA tests for the identification of the remains of Argentine combatants buried in the Darwin cemetery, following the 1982 conflict, reports Clarin.

• Sunday, December 4th 2016 - 11:14 UTC

  Anniversary of the Battle of the Falkland Islands

  

  Falkland Islands elected government has announced the following program for Thursday 8th December 2016 to commemorate the victory of the Naval engagements of 8th December 1914, on which day 6 British sailors lost their lives and a number of others died later from injuries received during the battle. 2,260 German sailors also lost their lives.

• Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 09:53 UTC

  Two Chinese large-scale jiggers heading for the SW Atlantic, announces Pingtan

  

  China's Pingtan Marine has announced the launch of two new squid jiggers, bound for the southwest Atlantic and southeast Pacific oceans. The two newly-completed vessels should reach fishing grounds by late December, and sales of squid catches are then expected to begin in the first quarter of 2017.

• Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 09:41 UTC

  Old-fashioned cigarette doomed, says world's largest tobacco company

  

  A historic lawsuit loss to Uruguay over tobacco-related cancer damages and other technological developments have Philip Morris focusing on new alternatives. “I think the time will come when we will have enough acceptance of these alternative products to begin to propose, along with the governments, a gradual elimination of conventional cigars,” the company CEO Andre Calantzopoulos announced.

• Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 08:03 UTC

  Beppe Grillo, Italy's Donald Trump: “I say NO”

  

  By Gwynne Dyer - “Today saying No is the most beautiful and glorious form of politics....Whoever doesn't understand that can go screw themselves.” It could have been Donald Trump before the US election two weeks ago, or Boris Johnson during the Brext campaign in Britain last June, but it was actually Beppe Grillo, founder and leader of Italy's populist Five Star Movement.

• Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 07:44 UTC

  Brexit controversy ousts Tories from safe seat: Lib Dem newcomer Sarah Olney wins by election

  

  Lib Dem leader Tim Farron claims his party is “back in the big time” after it fought on the issue of Brexit to oust ex-Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith in the Richmond Park by-election. Lib Dem challenger Sarah Olney overturned Goldsmith's 23,015 majority to finish 1,872 votes ahead.