
Counter-terror police are leading an investigation into the “unexplained” death of a man in London. He is believed to be Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov, who claimed political asylum in the UK after being convicted of fraud.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has dismissed claims that people crossing the Irish border would have to pre-register after Brexit. Speaking from the United States, where he is conducting a series of St Patrick’s Day engagements, the Taoiseach said: “No, it is not a solution that we envisage.”

The UK will come to regret its decision to leave the European Union, Brussels’ top official has claimed. European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said things “cannot remain as they are” for the UK in its relationship with the EU after leaving the bloc.

Gina Haspel, 61, the newly nominated first-ever female director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is a career intelligence officer with more than 30 years' experience. Controversially, she ran a prison in Thailand where suspected al-Qaeda members were tortured by water-boarding in 2002.

German firms ideally want the UK to stay in a customs union after Brexit, a powerful German industry group says. BDI said it would prefer a deep form of integration between Britain and the EU after Brexit. It had previously said the integrity of the single market for remaining European Union member states should be a priority.

A controversial visit and meeting of two branches of government, on Saturday, was reported in the Brazilian media. In effect last Saturday afternoon president Michel Temer made a visit to the head of the Federal Supreme Tribunal Carmen Lucia at her residence, and was not conducted as part of the President’s official schedule.

As Pope Francis marks the fifth year of his papacy next week, the pontiff once hailed as a fearless reformer is under fire for his handling of the sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Roman Catholic Church. Since taking over in March 2013, the 81-year-old Argentine has championed the cause of the marginalized, saying he wanted a “poor church for the poor” and shunning papal palaces and ostentatious displays of wealth.

Argentine former deputy foreign minister and ambassador before the United Nations, Fernando Enrique Petrella has been appointed head of the country's Foreign Service Institute, ISEN, according to Decree 176/2018.

On six continents around the globe, the currently 53 countries of the Commonwealth marked Commonwealth Day earlier in the week. The day included messages to the Commonwealth from Her Majesty the Queen as well as the UK Prime Minister, both of which have been covered by MercoPress. However, the Falkland Islands also reaffirmed its ties to the Commonwealth over recent days both within the Islands and elsewhere in the world.

Rex Tillerson was fired as secretary of State on Tuesday, ending a tumultuous tenure as America's top diplomat that was marked by a series of public disagreements with his boss — President Donald Trump.