Politics

Wednesday, September 20th 2017 - 07:00 UTC
Merciless Hurricane Maria lashes across the Caribbean leaving thousands homeless

Hurricane Maria slammed into the US Virgin Islands on Tuesday, lashing the archipelago with rain as Puerto Rico braced for the Category Five storm’s expected landfall on Wednesday. On St John Island, which was also battered by Hurricane Irma two weeks ago, locals reported seeing trees dramatically swaying in swirling winds, with rain pouring “sideways.”
Wednesday, September 20th 2017 - 01:46 UTC
Peru appoints more conservative cabinet following a no confidence vote

Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski made Vice President Mercedes Araoz his new prime minister in a Cabinet shuffle on Sunday that won praise from the opposition - a sign his year-old government will likely avoid a fresh standoff with Congress. Kuczynski also swore in Deputy Economy Minister Claudia Cooper as his new finance minister and replaced his justice, education, health and housing ministers.
Tuesday, September 19th 2017 - 20:21 UTC
UK interest rate increase gradual, with “appropriate withdrawal of monetary stimulus”

Any increases in UK interest rates in the coming months will be “gradual” and “limited”, the Bank of England governor Mark Carney has said, but “some withdrawal of monetary stimulus is likely to be appropriate over the coming months” to help return inflation to its 2% target.
Tuesday, September 19th 2017 - 19:57 UTC
Irish and French farmers warn about Mercosur/EU beef negotiations

News of a potential offer of a tariff rate quota for 85,000 tons of beef in the Mercosur/European Union negotiations has triggered a dismayed reaction from the ICSA’s (Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association’s) Beef Chairman Edmond Phelan.
Tuesday, September 19th 2017 - 10:20 UTC
Brazil's new prosecutor general sworn in: “People will not tolerate corruption and demand results”

The new prosecutor general tasked with leading Brazil's anti-corruption drive was sworn in on Monday, and said she would continue her predecessor's campaign against graft in Latin America's biggest nation.
Tuesday, September 19th 2017 - 10:04 UTC
Tory disunity over Brexit “could hand power to Jeremy Cobyn's Labour Party”

Lord Hague has become the latest senior Conservative to intervene within the party about how the UK should manage its withdrawal from the European Union. Writing in the Daly Telegraph, the former foreign secretary warned that disunity over Brexit could hand power to Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party.
Tuesday, September 19th 2017 - 09:48 UTC
Venezuela “free of the dollar tyranny” publishes oil and fuel prices in Chinese Yuan

Venezuela published the price of its oil and fuel in Chinese currency on Friday in what it called an effort to free the socialist-run country from the “tyranny of the dollar,” echoing a plan recently announced by President Nicolas Maduro.
Tuesday, September 19th 2017 - 09:39 UTC
Scotland and London discussing terms of devolution under Brexit

The Scottish government is to outline plans to amend the legislation taking the UK out of the European Union. The Scottish and Welsh governments call the EU withdrawal bill currently under consideration at Westminster a “power grab” of devolved responsibilities, and have worked together to draw up amendments as a direct challenge to the UK government's legislation.
Tuesday, September 19th 2017 - 09:04 UTC
Hurricane Maria flattens Dominica: “we need help, we need help of all kinds”

The British Overseas Territory of Dominica has suffered “widespread damage” from Hurricane Maria, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit announced. “We have lost all that money can buy,” he said in a Facebook post. The hurricane suddenly strengthened to a “potentially catastrophic” category five storm, before making landfall on the Caribbean island.
Tuesday, September 19th 2017 - 08:37 UTC
Trump's first address to the UN Assembly: all countries will be listening

United States President Donald Trump, in his first address to the United Nations General Assembly, will harshly criticize North Korea, Iran and Venezuela. “He will speak in extremely tough terms about the North Korean menace and the threat it poses to our security and the security of all the nations in that room,” according to a senior White House official who gave reporters a preview of the address.