LONDON (Reuters) - A majority of Britons support rejoining the European Union’s single market even though that would mean the restoration of the free movement of workers from the bloc, according to a poll published on Wednesday. Curbing immigration was a key reason Britons voted to leave the European Union in 2016. Polls in recent months have shown that a majority of people now think Brexit was now a mistake, and Wednesday’s poll comes less than a week after data showed that annual net migration to the United Kingdom hit a record high last year - more than double the figure recorded in the year before the Brexit vote.

 

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MADRID (Reuters) - Spain is “very close” to signing a deal on the post-Brexit status of the British territory of Gibraltar, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said after meeting his British counterpart David Cameron in Brussels. “Today we have made progress, because David Cameron has shown a willingness to reach an agreement,” Albares told reporters after the meeting. “We are very, very close,” he added in comments broadcast by Spanish state broadcaster TVE. Albares did not say when both parties could announce a full agreement but he said they were discussing specific details, such as a formula for how both sides would use the airport. The status of Gibraltar - an enclave at the southern tip of Spain that has been under British rule since the 18th century - and how to police the border with Spain have been points of contention since Britain voted in 2016 to leave the European Union.

 

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LONDON (Reuters) - Black employees in Britain have seen the gap in their earnings compared with white employees change little in recent years, but the difference narrowed for Asian or Asian British employees, Britain’s statistics office said on Wednesday. Black, African, Caribbean or Black British employees were paid 5.6% less than white employees in 2022, the Office for National Statistics, citing its most recent data. That was close to the average difference over the past 10 years. The gap for Asian or Asian British employees was 1.9%, the ONS said, or roughly half its 10-year average. The ONS said its figures were adjusted for a number of factors such as occupation, geography and qualifications.

 

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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan’s space agency was hit with a cyberattack but the information the hackers accessed did not include anything important for rocket and satellite operations, a spokesperson said on Wednesday. “There was a possibility of unauthorized access by exploiting the vulnerability of network equipment,” the spokesperson at Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said, declining to elaborate on details such as when the attack took place. The investigation is ongoing, the spokesperson said.

 

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s new prime minister plans to ban cellphone use in schools and repeal tobacco controls in the ambitious agenda he released Wednesday for his first 100 days in office. Christopher Luxon outlined 49 actions he said his conservative government intended to take over the next three months. The first new law he planned to pass would narrow the central bank’s mandate to focus purely on keeping inflation in check, he said. That would change the Reserve Bank’s current dual focus on low inflation and high employment.