International

• Thursday, December 27th 2018 - 05:27 UTC

  Cuba and Venezuela default on Brazilian development loans

  

  After defaults in Mozambique, Venezuela, and Cuba the Brazilian government froze credit lines for new exports, a measure that will affect mostly small and medium-sized businesses. The Brazilian Treasury Department will spend US$ 6 million to reimburse BNDES (National Bank For Economic and Social Development) for Cuba's default

• Thursday, December 27th 2018 - 05:19 UTC

  Natanyahu will not be attending Bolsonaro's inauguration, reports O'Globo

  

  Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will cut a visit to Brazil short, skipping incoming President Jair Bolsonaro’s inauguration.

• Thursday, December 27th 2018 - 05:11 UTC

  “Harmony of the Seas” crew member lost in the Atlantic; US Coast Guard on the search

  

  The U.S. Coast Guard said on Wednesday it was searching for a British crew member who went overboard from a Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Arron Hough, 20, went overboard 430 km off the northwest of Puerto Rico on Tuesday, a spokesman for the Coast Guard 7th District revealed in a telephone interview.

• Thursday, December 27th 2018 - 04:22 UTC

  Sea Shepherd celebrates Japan will cease whaling around Antarctica

  

  Marine conservationists Sea Shepherd are claiming Japan's decision to abandon whaling around Antarctica as a victory, though their battle will go on with the Asian nation moving to resume hunting elsewhere. On Boxing Day, Japan announced it was leaving the International Whaling Commission so it could resume commercial hunting of the marine mammals in their territorial waters.

• Wednesday, December 26th 2018 - 09:06 UTC

  Abdicating Emperor Akihito underlines his reign has seen “Japan free of war”

  

  Japan’s Emperor Akihito, marking his 85th birthday — his last before his upcoming abdication — said he feels relieved that his reign is coming to an end without having seen his country at war and that it is important to keep telling younger people about his nation’s wartime history.

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

  Busy Christmas: UK rescues illegal immigrants in the English Channel

  

  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

  

  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 - 08:53 UTC

  Bolsonaro after Israel technology to water the parched northeast

  

  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 - 08:45 UTC

  Japan withdraws from the Whaling Commission to resume commercial hunting

  

  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

  

  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.