
A late change of plans to fly home in England in mid-March was just the ticket for Dorset farmer's son Henry Mayo on Friday as he became the first overseas shearer in 28 years to win a New Zealand Shears title in Te Kuiti.

It is an “absolute priority” for the government to leave the EU by 23 May to avoid having to take part in European elections, Jeremy Hunt has said. The foreign secretary said the public would find it “hugely disappointing” to be asked to send MEPs to Brussels.

Theresa May is spending part of her Easter break on a walking holiday in Wales, Downing Street has said. But - stand down everyone - Number 10 has insisted the prime minister is not considering calling a general election. Mrs. May famously decided to call a snap election during a walking holiday in Snowdonia in 2017 and went on to see her Commons majority wiped out.

Julian Assange used the Ecuadorian embassy in London as a “centre for spying”, the country's leader has said. Lenin Moreno also said no other nation had influenced the decision to revoke the WikiLeaks founder's asylum, which he said followed violations by Assange.

A group of UK experts visited Santiago during March 2019 to inaugurate a fintech collaboration network with the United Nations Economic Commission for Latina America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC). This was an outcome of an intense agenda of activities carried out in Chile last October by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, (CCAF).

The idea of a second Brexit referendum is very likely to be put before Britain's parliament again although the government remains opposed to any new plebiscite, the British finance minister said on Friday.

British politicians could now take some time to find a way forward on Brexit, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said on Thursday, after Prime Minister Theresa May agreed on a delay of up to six months before leaving the European Union.

Further uncertainty over Brexit will hinder growth in the UK economy, the head of IMF has told the BBC. Speaking ahead of the agreement of an extension to Article 50, Christine Lagarde warned that businesses and investors will remain hesitant in the coming months. She said any prolonged uncertainty would have a negative impact.

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney has been appointed as the UK's government's special envoy on media freedom, the Foreign Office has announced. Ms Clooney and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt will work to counter draconian laws that hinder journalists from going about their work, the FCO said.

For the United Nations (UN), the United Kingdom arrested “arbitrarily” WikiLeaks’s co-founder, Julian Assange, on Thursday and warned that by allowing his arrest, Ecuador has put the Australian journalist at risk of being extradited to the United States, “Exposing him to the risk of serious violations of human rights.”