Politics

• Monday, April 24th 2017 - 11:26 UTC

  PM May's snap election driven by “political opportunism”, claims EU parliament Brexit negotiator

  

  UK Prime Minister Theresa May's claims that a general election victory will strengthen her hand in Brexit negotiations have been called “nonsensical” by the European Parliament's chief Brexit coordinator. Guy Verhofstadt, a long-standing critic of Brexit, wrote in The Observer that it was “irrelevant” whether the Conservatives increased their majority.

• Monday, April 24th 2017 - 08:42 UTC

  Temer insists that the corruption scandal won't paralyze Brazil

  

  President Michel Temer insists that a growing corruption scandal in his government will not paralyze Brazil as it struggles to emerge from its deepest recession in history. “Brazil doesn’t stop,” he said in an interview broadcast on Spanish television TVE ahead of a visit Monday by Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. “So it won’t be corrupt acts that paralyze the country.”

• Monday, April 24th 2017 - 07:53 UTC

  Macron is favorite over Le Pen to win the French presidential runoff in May

  

  The independent pro Europe Emmanuel Macron will face far-right leader Marine Le Pen in a run-off for the French presidency on 7 May, near-final results show. With 96% of votes counted from Sunday's first round, Mr. Macron has 23.9% with Ms Le Pen on 21.4%.

• Monday, April 24th 2017 - 07:05 UTC

  Euro jumps to a five-month high as French election results bring relief to investors

  

  The value of the Euro jumped to a five-month high, after the first round of voting in the French presidential election on Sunday. Results indicate that independent pro Europe pro deregulation Emmanuel Macron, and far-right Marine Le Pen are through to the final round.

• Monday, April 24th 2017 - 06:14 UTC

  Tony Blair predicts landslide for PM May, but warns 'unreasonable' Brexit policy is geared by right wing Tories

  

  Tony Blair has urged voters not to elect MPs who “back Brexit at any cost”, whichever party they are from. The ex-PM told the BBC that Brexit was a bigger issue than party allegiance for the general election on 8 June.

• Sunday, April 23rd 2017 - 06:51 UTC

  UK government recovers the £20.3bn spent bailing out Lloyds Banking Group

  

  The £20.3bn spent bailing out Lloyds Banking Group during the financial crash has been re-paid in full, UK chancellor Philip Hammond has said. Nine years after the government bought 43.4% of Lloyds, the taxpayer has now got slightly more - £20.4bn - back.

• Saturday, April 22nd 2017 - 14:15 UTC

  IMF Lagarde calls for “growth friendly fiscal policies” and warns on automation

  

  The International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde said that to get the global economy moving at a faster pace it was necessary to share the benefits of capitalism, more global regulation and more action to protect workers against automation and robots.

• Saturday, April 22nd 2017 - 14:02 UTC

  Germany and US confident an understanding on trade can be reached

  

  Recent tensions between the U.S. and other major economies over trade did not reemerge during Friday’s meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors, fueling hopes global policy makers can avert an open dispute with the Trump administration over globalization, top German officials said.

• Saturday, April 22nd 2017 - 13:25 UTC

  King of Spain to UK will be rescheduled announced Madrid

  

  The King of Spain’s state visit to the UK is likely to be rescheduled after his country’s foreign minister indicated that staging it during the UK’s general election would not be appropriate. King Felipe VI, accompanied by his wife, Queen Letizia, are due to tour the UK from June 6-8 after it was announced in March that he had accepted an invitation from the Queen.

• Saturday, April 22nd 2017 - 13:16 UTC

  United Airlines PR disaster: the carrier will link pay to customer satisfaction

  

  Two weeks after a passenger was violently dragged from one its planes, United Airlines says it is to link pay more closely to customer satisfaction. The US carrier has also revealed its chief executive, Oscar Munoz, will now not become chairman, as anticipated.