
Princess Cruises has announced its largest Australia and New Zealand cruise season ever offered sailing towards some of the world’s most dramatic destinations during the cruise line’s October 2020 to May 2021 season. New for this season, Regal Princess joins sister ship Majestic Princess in Australia, marking the cruise line’s youngest fleet to sail in this region.

Three issues lie in the way of an agreement between China and the United States, which will have to be ironed out in upcoming talks in Beijing, said China’s chief trade negotiator as the US moved to impose higher tariffs on Chinese goods.

The European Union and Mercosur will likely close a trade agreement in the near future, Brazil’s Foreign Trade Secretary Lucas Ferraz said in an interview with Bloomberg. “We’ve never been so close,” Ferraz said adding, “we’ve advanced more in four months than in 20 years”.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he had received a “beautiful letter” from Chinese President Xi Jinping, as negotiations on a trade deal between the two countries continue in Washington.

One of the co-founders of Facebook called on Thursday for the social media behemoth to be broken up, warning that the company's head, Mark Zuckerberg, had become far too powerful.

The BBC on Thursday fired radio presenter Danny Baker for a tweet about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's baby. The post, which has now been deleted, showed an image of a couple holding hands with a chimpanzee, which is dressed in clothes, alongside the caption: “Royal baby leaves hospital”.

US President Donald Trump spoke with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday and offered his support for Canadian citizens detained in China, the White House said. Four Canadians have been detained in China, two of whom have been sentenced to death over drug smuggling accusations.

Shell plans to invest as much as US$2 billion annually in its Brazilian operations by 2025, Shell’s chief executive officer Ben van Beurden told Brazilian business daily Valor Economico in an exclusive interview published on Thursday.

The United States says it has seized a North Korean cargo ship, accusing it of violating international sanctions. The justice department said the ship was used to transport coal, North Korea largest export but subject to a UN export ban. The vessel was initially impounded in Indonesia in April 2018.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday threatened a swift and decisive US response to any attack by Iran, in the latest of a series of escalating statements and actions.