Stories for January 5th 2019

Saturday, January 5th 2019 - 10:02 UTC
Bomb blast in downtown Santiago de Chile injures five people

A blast at a bus stop that wounded five people in the centre of the Chilean capital on Friday was described as a “terrorist act” by the government. A Venezuelan couple was hospitalized with facial and leg injuries after handling a package containing the device at the bus stop on the busy Vicuna Mackenna Avenue, authorities said.
Saturday, January 5th 2019 - 09:50 UTC
Lima Group, without Mexico, urges Maduro to refrain from taking office next Thursday

Mexico’s new government on Friday called on its peers to refrain from interfering in Venezuela’s internal affairs, declining to back a regional declaration that urged Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro not to take office on Jan. 10.
Saturday, January 5th 2019 - 09:37 UTC
Brazil seeks supremacy in South America, said Bolsonaro, who did not discard a US military base in Brazil

Brazil’s new President Jair Bolsonaro said that he would be open to the possibility of the United States operating a military base on his country’s soil, a move that would form a sharp shift in direction for Brazilian foreign policy.
Saturday, January 5th 2019 - 09:25 UTC
A shooting in Los Angeles takes several victims

A shooting with several victims has been recorded this Saturday morning in a bowling alley in the town of Torrance, in the county of Los Angeles (USA), police said.
Saturday, January 5th 2019 - 09:24 UTC
Dozens of tourists victims of mass robbery when climbing the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio

Dozens of tourists hiking toward the famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro were held at gunpoint for up to two hours in a mass robbery that could mark an early test for anti-crime crackdowns promised by Brazil’s new president.
Saturday, January 5th 2019 - 09:22 UTC
Troops sent to contain violence in northeast Brazil: criminal gangs challenging Bolsonaro?

Brazil's government ordered troops to the northeast of the country on Friday to contain violence by criminal groups in the first test of new far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's hard-line law-and-order platform.
Saturday, January 5th 2019 - 09:06 UTC
Major “live test” in South England on Monday in the event of a no-deal Brexit

The British Government is to use up to 150 trucks in a major test of its plans for UK border disruption in the event of a no-deal Brexit. A “live test” on Monday will examine the proposal to use Manston airfield near Ramsgate as a mass “HGV holding facility” to alleviate congestion on the roads to the Channel ports, the Department for Transport has confirmed.
Saturday, January 5th 2019 - 08:59 UTC
New Brazilian administration prepared to open concentrated banking to foreign competition

The fast pace of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro continued on Friday, with current central bank Governor Ilan Goldfajn telling newspaper Valor Economico that the new administration is likely to empower the central bank to approve the entrance of new foreign lenders into Brazil.
Saturday, January 5th 2019 - 08:54 UTC
Markets disappointed with Bolsonaro's watered down pensions reform

Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday called for minimum retirement ages significantly lower than those proposed by his predecessor, sparking concerns among investors that he will back watered-down pension reform legislation.
Saturday, January 5th 2019 - 08:50 UTC
Grassroots conservatives want PM May's Brexit deal ditched, according to survey

More than half of grassroots Conservative members want Theresa May’s Brexit deal to be ditched in favour of no deal, a survey has found. About 57% of the rank and file are convinced that leaving the EU without a deal is better than their own leader’s Brexit plan, according to a poll funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.