International

• Wednesday, August 7th 2019 - 09:00 UTC

  UK police using drones to watch livestock at night to prevent illegal sheep butchery

  

  Operation Stock is Northamptonshire Police's response to such incidents. Using the drone’s thermal image technology and flying no higher than 400ft, its operators can monitor large rural areas.

• Wednesday, August 7th 2019 - 08:50 UTC

  Millions of Muslims flock to Mecca for the annual hajj pilgrimage

  

  More than 2.5 million Muslims will on Friday begin the annual hajj pilgrimage in the Islamic holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, against a backdrop of tensions in the Gulf. Crowds of worshippers have already begun to gather in Mecca in the days ahead of the hajj, the focal point of the Islamic calendar.

• Wednesday, August 7th 2019 - 08:44 UTC

  Sino/US clash eases: Beijing supports Yuan and Washington pledges to continue trade talks

  

  Asian shares steadied slightly on Wednesday as investors caught their breath from a searing week-long selloff, with steps taken by Chinese authorities to contain a sliding Yuan helping calm fears of a full-blown Sino-U.S. trade and currency war.

• Wednesday, August 7th 2019 - 08:44 UTC

  North Korea with cyber attacks stole US$ 2bn to fund its weapons programs, UN report

  

  North Korea has stolen US$ 2bn to fund its weapons program using cyber-attacks, a leaked United Nations report says.  The confidential report says Pyongyang has targeted banks and crypto-currency exchanges to collect cash.

• Tuesday, August 6th 2019 - 10:30 UTC

  The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt stretches 5.592 miles, fed with rich nutrients from farms along the Amazon river

  

  Slimy, stinky brown seaweed that ruins beachgoers' vacations from Mexico to Florida may be the new normal unless Brazil halts Amazon deforestation, experts say. The culprit, called sargassum, turns clear-blue seawater a murky brown and smells like rotten eggs when it washes ashore and starts to rot.

• Tuesday, August 6th 2019 - 10:01 UTC

  British Foreign secretary Raab travels to US, Canada and Mexico to boost trade, ahead of Brexit

  

  British foreign minister Dominic Raab will travel to Canada, the United States and Mexico this week to seek to boost ties with non-European countries ahead of Brexit, his office said.

• Tuesday, August 6th 2019 - 09:48 UTC

  The Titanic ship yard broke and in administration; the end of North Ireland's once proud iconic industry

  

  Accountancy firm BDO has been appointed administrators to North Ireland's shipbuilders Harland and Wolff, a spokesman for the Belfast shipyard has said. An insolvency request is expected to be filed at the High Court in Belfast on Tuesday.

• Tuesday, August 6th 2019 - 09:41 UTC

  Ice patrol ship HMS Protector and crew readying for polar return

  

  The Royal Navy’s sole polar research, survey and science ship HMS Protector has come through fire, flood, breakdowns and helicopter crashes – all scenarios testing her ship’s company so that she is safe to operate thousands of miles from the UK.

• Tuesday, August 6th 2019 - 09:15 UTC

  World stock markets plunge as Beijing lets its currency to devalue and halts purchase of US farm produce

  

  World stock markets plunged on Monday as Beijing parried US President Donald Trump's latest tariff announcements by moving to let China's Yuan currency devalue and halting purchases of US agricultural products.

• Tuesday, August 6th 2019 - 09:06 UTC

  Fed expected to further lower interest rate as trade tensions with China increase

  

  Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who last week cut U.S. interest rates as an insurance policy against the effects of “simmering” trade tensions, may need to buy more coverage after the United States late on Monday designated China a currency manipulator.