Stories for August 2019

Saturday, August 3rd 2019 - 12:00 UTC
Venezuela and opposition continue talks in Barbados, Norwegian minister reveals

The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the opposition are continuing talks in Barbados to try to find ways to resolve the Latin American country's political crisis, the Foreign Ministry of mediator Norway said on Friday.
Saturday, August 3rd 2019 - 11:54 UTC
Trump calls Hong Kong unrest “riots” and suggests it's an issue between HK and Beijing

President Donald Trump has labelled recent protests in Hong Kong as “riots”, adopting the language used by Chinese authorities and suggesting that the United States would stay out of an issue that was “between Hong Kong and China”.
Saturday, August 3rd 2019 - 11:45 UTC
US lawmakers urge Trump administration to suspend sales of crowd control equipment to Hong Kong

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers on Friday urged the Trump administration to suspend future sales of munitions and crowd-control equipment to Hong Kong police which has been accused of using excessive force against anti-government protesters.
Saturday, August 3rd 2019 - 11:19 UTC
Forest fires devastating millions of hectares in Siberia: military and shamans to the rescue

While Russian military is sending planes to stop wildfires that have affected millions of hectares of forest in isolated areas in Siberia, Siberian shamans announced that they will ‘unite their powers’ to extinguish the flames.
Saturday, August 3rd 2019 - 11:12 UTC
Law banning face-covering clothes in public came into force in the Netherlands

The law that bans face-covering clothes on public transport, in government buildings and at health and education institutions has come into force in the Netherlands.
Saturday, August 3rd 2019 - 11:06 UTC
Largest cocaine bust in Germany, 4.500 kilos, was shipped from Montevideo

German customs have confiscated a record 4.5 metric tons (5 short tons) of cocaine in a shipping container in Hamburg, with a street value of nearly €1 billion (US$ 1.1 billion). The drugs were discovered two weeks ago during a routine check, resulting in the largest cocaine shipment ever seized in Germany.
Saturday, August 3rd 2019 - 07:49 UTC
Falklands' charity “Southern Heartbeat” ensures Defibrillators for Stanley and Camp locations

Falkland Islands' governor Nigel Philips hosted a reception at Government House for the newly formed local charity, “Southern Heartbeat”, which surpassing all forecasts collected sufficient funds to ensure publicly available Artificial External Defibrillators, (AED's) both in Stanley and camp locations.
Saturday, August 3rd 2019 - 07:30 UTC
China bows to fight back Trump's tariffs: “if they want to fight, then we will fight”

China on Friday vowed to fight back against US President Donald Trump's abrupt decision to slap 10% tariffs on the remaining US$300 billion in Chinese imports, a move that ended a month-long trade truce.
Saturday, August 3rd 2019 - 07:19 UTC
S&P retained its 'B' rating for Argentine debt

Standard & Poor's (S&P) confirmed it would maintain its 'B' rating for Argentine debt, highlighting that the president Mauricio Macri administration was continuing to meet the goals laid out by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of the huge credit line agreed last year.
Friday, August 2nd 2019 - 19:20 UTC
Brazil agrees to review secret Itaipu deal that nearly cost Paraguay's President Abdo his job

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said he was open to reviewing the controversial recent energy agreement with Paraguay, which cost dignataries from the latter country their jobs and left President Mario Abdo Benitez on the brink of impeachment.