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Montevideo, November 23rd 2024 - 11:58 UTC

Stories for December 2018

  • Wednesday, December 26th 2018 - 09:03 UTC

    Busy Christmas: UK rescues illegal immigrants in the English Channel

    The Home Office said some of the migrants identified as Iraqis, Iranians and Afghans, and the children will come under the care of social services

    Forty migrants, including two children, have been rescued from boats in five separate incidents on Christmas Day in the English Channel. Lifeboats and a coastguard helicopter intercepted a boat carrying 12 people and a child off the coast of Deal, Kent, at about 04:30 GMT. And a girl was one of eight who arrived in Folkestone at about 02:40 GMT.

  • Wednesday, December 26th 2018 - 08:59 UTC

    RBS applies for a banking license in Germany; the bank already has on in the Netherlands

    RBS, which already has a Dutch license, said it would allow it to continue operating freely across the EU

    The Royal Bank of Scotland has applied for a German banking license to help it retain clients in the European Union in the event of a no-deal Brexit. The move applies to all its subsidiaries, but would only affect NatWest, which trades across the bloc.

  • Wednesday, December 26th 2018 - 08:55 UTC

    Petrobras plans to invest US$ 84bn mainly in pre-salt areas by 2023

    Around US$ 69bn of the planned investment will be channeled into the development of production in the pre-salt areas

    Petrobras has unveiled plans to invest US$ 84.1bn in deepwater exploration and production projects in Brazil, as well as raise $27bn through asset sales and partnerships by 2023. Around US$ 69bn of the planned investment will be channelled into the development of production in the pre-salt areas. Other key focus areas of investment include refining, transportation, trading, and natural gas and petrochemicals.

  • Wednesday, December 26th 2018 - 08:53 UTC

    Bolsonaro after Israel technology to water the parched northeast

    The president-elect said the idea is to begin building as soon as January “a pilot facility to draw brackish well water, desalinate it, and distribute it to family farms”

    Brazil's president-elect Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday said he wants an agreement with Israel to build desalination plants in the parched north where droughts are frequent. In a message on Twitter, Bolsonaro, who is to take office on Jan. 1, said his appointed Science and Technology Minister Marcos Pontes will travel to Tel Aviv in January to meet with his Israeli counterpart over the matter.

  • Wednesday, December 26th 2018 - 08:52 UTC

    Managua acknowledges 340 political prisoners, NGOs speak of almost twice as many

    Protests against Ortega and his wife began on April 18.

    A total 340 people have been reported Tuesday to be incarcerated in Nicaragua for their involvement in anti-givernment actions, according to the National Prison System, as the administration of President Daniel Ortega has been going through a socio-political crisis since April that has left hundreds dead and thousands either under arrest or injured. Human rights NGOs estimate the number of detainees to be almost twice as many.

  • Wednesday, December 26th 2018 - 08:45 UTC

    Japan withdraws from the Whaling Commission to resume commercial hunting

    Following the pullout, Japan plans to hunt whales in nearby waters and within its exclusive economic zone beginning in July but not in the Antarctic Ocean

    Japan will withdraw from the International Whaling Commission in 2019 to pave the way for the resumption of commercial whaling for the first time in about three decades, the government said on Wednesday, a decision likely to draw international condemnation.

  • Wednesday, December 26th 2018 - 07:05 UTC

    Pope calls for peace and fraternity in his Urbi e Orbi address

    “My wish for a happy Christmas is a wish for fraternity. Fraternity among individuals of every nation and culture,” Pope Francis said on Tuesday.

    The Pope has used his annual Christmas message to appeal for peace in conflict zones including Yemen and Syria. The two countries have both been ravaged by civil war for years, pushing their people into humanitarian crises. Francis also called for political reconciliation in Nicaragua and Venezuela.

  • Wednesday, December 26th 2018 - 06:59 UTC

    Venezuelan opposition opens Human Rights Museum

    The exhibition features “political and fallen prisoners; women and men murdered throughout these past years,” Tintori explained.

    Venezuelan human rights activists and opposition party Voluntad Popular (VP) Monday opened an exhibition about the country's political prisoners, their alleged tortures and the plights hundreds of victims of the Nicolás Naduri regime have gone through.

  • Wednesday, December 26th 2018 - 06:51 UTC

    Market analyst views Argentina, Brazil on path to recovery in 2019

    Michael Hasenstab foresees Macri will be reelected in 2019.

    Argentina, Brazil and India lead the prospects of an economic recovery, according to Michael Hasenstab of Templeton Global Bond Fund Management.

  • Tuesday, December 25th 2018 - 22:49 UTC

    Mexican Congress passes AMLO's first budget

    AMLO drew 311 votes from his supporting coalition while the opposition aligned 154 deputies.

    The Mexican House of Deputies Monday gave its final green light to the spending law bill - that is one week before the legal deadline - with funds relocated from autonomous bodies to sensitive areas such as agriculture, environment and public universities, it was announced.