The leader of Brazil's Workers' Party, PT, argued in an interview that former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is anything but radical and does not pose a threat to Brazilian financial stability. Brazilian senator Gleisi Hoffman told Bloomberg News that Lula is working on a second letter to Brazilian people (as he did in 2002) to reassure the markets about his commitment to fiscal responsibility.
The Foreign Office Director of the Economic Diplomacy Directorate Hugh Elliot is currently in Chile on a two day visit to discuss the UK’s transition process from the European Union with the Chilean Government. Mr. Elliot is the UK's government main interlocutor for the transition program of agreements and third countries.
Pope Francis celebrated the first-ever airborne papal wedding on Thursday, marrying two flight attendants from Chile’s flagship airline at 36,000 feet during a flight from Santiago.
Among the sanctioned are the number two of the government, Diosdado Cabello; Néstor Reverol, minister of Justice and Maikel Moreno, president of the Supreme Court of Justice. These are new individual sanctions, which include the freezing of assets and the prohibition to travel to the countries of the European bloc to at least seven senior Venezuelan officials.
Pope Francis urged Chile’s indigenous Mapuche people on Wednesday to shun violence, saying unity was the best weapon against “the deforestation of hope,” as they struggle to defend their culture and reclaim ancestral lands.
The European Union chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker renewed an offer to Britain on Wednesday to stay in the European Union and said he hoped that even if it goes through with Brexit it would apply to rejoin the bloc.
China cuts its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities in November 2017 after adding US$ 8.4bn in October. China's holdings of U.S. treasuries dropped by US$ 12.6bn to US$ 1.1766 trillion in November last year. China remained the largest holder of U.S. treasuries.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) on Wednesday ruled out further political concessions in the preliminary coalition agreement between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Christian Social Union (CSU) and German Social Democrats (SPD).
Brazil is studying the removal of a 20% tariff on ethanol imports from the United States, Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi said on Wednesday, in a decision that could depend on Washington lifting a ban on fresh beef exports from Brazil. Last year, Brazil imposed a 20% tax on ethanol imported from the U.S. that exceeds a 600 million liter annual quota to protect local producers as imports spiked.
French film legend Brigitte Bardot attacked the #MeToo movement on Wednesday, claiming that actresses who complain of sexual harassment were just looking for publicity. “The vast majority are being hypocritical and ridiculous,” she told the French magazine Paris Match.