Stories for December 2018

Friday, December 21st 2018 - 12:03 UTC
Santander fined £32.8m in UK for failing to process accounts of dead customers

The Santander group has been fined more than £30m for “serious failings” in processing the accounts of dead customers, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said. The FCA found that Santander failed to transfer funds worth more than £183m to beneficiaries.
Friday, December 21st 2018 - 12:01 UTC
Brazil’s development bank “must return” to the Treasury some US$ 25bn

Brazil’s future economy minister wants state development bank BNDES to return 100 billion Reais, some US$25.7 billion, to the nation’s treasury in 2019, a newspaper reported, as the incoming government seeks to cut the nation’s hefty debt load.
Friday, December 21st 2018 - 11:58 UTC
Prosecutors waiting for Temer when he steps down accused of “institutionalized corruption”

Brazil's attorney general has accused President Michele Temer of sitting at the center of “an institutionalized system of corruption” and has asked the courts to charge him with crimes as soon as he leaves office at the year's end.
Friday, December 21st 2018 - 11:56 UTC
US defense secretary stepping down over discrepancies with Trump over Syria withdrawal

United States defense Secretary Jim Mattis is stepping down from his post, President Donald Trump announced on Thursday, after the retired Marine general clashed with the president over a troop drawdown in Syria and Trump's go-it-alone stance in world affairs.
Friday, December 21st 2018 - 08:55 UTC
Falklands' sovereignty “not up for debate”, says PM May who praised changing relationship with Argentina

While the relationship between the UK and Argentina is changing, the UK commitment to the people and sovereignty of the Falklands is unchanging, assured Prime Minister Theresa May in her Christmas speech to the Falklands.
Thursday, December 20th 2018 - 23:49 UTC
Team which identified unnamed bodies in Darwin on the brink of collapse as Argentine gov't withholds funds

The Argentine Anthropology Forensics Team (EAAF) Thursday announced it will no be able to carry on with its work since the Argentine government had not wired the funds agreed upon.
Thursday, December 20th 2018 - 18:24 UTC
Mapuche leaders indicted for trespassing at Vaca Muerta

The Office of Neuquén's Chief Prosecutor Wednesday filed charges against businessman Gabriel Cherqui, Mapuche Community of Neuquén (CMN) spokesman Jorge Nahuel and activist Gilberto Huilipan for promoting the May 2017 trespassing by Mauche demonstrators into the Vaca Muerta oil fields.
Thursday, December 20th 2018 - 17:00 UTC
Colombia expels Venezuelan citizen with a FARC past

Colombian migration authorities Wednesday confirmed Venezuelan national Carlos Manuel Pino García was in custody in Bogotá, to be eventually deported Thursday.
Thursday, December 20th 2018 - 12:21 UTC
Argentina, Nicaragua pull out ambassadors as diplomatic tension grows

In a local replica of the #MeToo movement, actress/model Thelma Fardin last week announced with the backing of radical feminist groups that she had been abused by actor Juan Darthes while on tour in Nicaragua. At the time of the alleged abuse in 2009, Fardin was 16 and therefore a minor. Darthes has already been “buried alive” and any show or commercial ad with his face has been removed from national TV.
Thursday, December 20th 2018 - 09:32 UTC
Ex minister of Rousseff accused of receiving millions in bribes from JBS food company

Brazilian Federal Police raided the home of Science and Technology Minister Gilberto Kassab on Wednesday following accusations that he received millions in bribes from the JBS food company between 2010 and 2016.