International

• Wednesday, December 5th 2018 - 09:37 UTC

  Weakened Theresa May suffers three defeats in Commons

  

  Theresa May has suffered three Brexit defeats in the Commons as she set out to sell her EU deal to skeptical MPs. Ministers have agreed to publish the government's full legal advice on the deal after MPs found them in contempt of Parliament for issuing a summary. And MPs backed calls for the Commons to have a direct say in what happens if the PM's deal is rejected next Tuesday.

• Wednesday, December 5th 2018 - 09:33 UTC

  China confident in implementing trade commitments to US “as soon as possible”

  

  Chinese officials have said they are “confident in implementing” trade commitments made to the US “as soon as possible”, without giving details. An ongoing trade war has seen both countries impose duties on billions of dollars of one another's goods.

• Wednesday, December 5th 2018 - 09:17 UTC

  Norway pays Brazil US$ 70m for deforestation reduction in the Amazon in 2017

  

  Norway will pay Brazil US$ 70 million for reducing deforestation in the Amazon in 2017 but is concerned over a more recent surge in the destruction of the world's largest tropical rainforest, according to a Norwegian government statement.

• Wednesday, December 5th 2018 - 09:06 UTC

  Madrid bans old petrol and diesel vehicles to combat pollution

  

  Madrid has activated an anti-pollution order that significantly restricts private vehicles in the city center, including a total ban on the most polluting cars.

• Wednesday, December 5th 2018 - 08:45 UTC

  Anniversary ceremony of the 1914 Battle of the Falkland Islands

  

  Falkland Islands will commemorate the 8th December 1914 Battle of the Falkland Islands with a talk on Wednesday and a full program next Saturday. This Wednesday at the Historic Dockyard Museum, David Bailey will be giving a talk on the Battle of Colonel, and of the Falkland Islands.

• Wednesday, December 5th 2018 - 08:33 UTC

  German auto maker rehiring confident of Brazil's recovery

  

  Mercedes Benz's Brazil operation will hire some 600 contractors in 2019 on year-long contracts to work on commercial vehicles, adding to a workforce of 10,000, the company said on Tuesday.

• Tuesday, December 4th 2018 - 21:36 UTC

  Sino-Panamanian relations off to a strong start, says Xi Jinping

  

  Chinese President Xi Jinping Monday explained relations between his country and Panama have ”gotten off to a strong start in just a year-and-a-half” after the establishment of diplomatic ties in June 2017.

• Tuesday, December 4th 2018 - 18:41 UTC

  Japanese mountaineer aged 86 ready to take on Aconcagua again

  

  Yuichiro Miura, an 86 year old mountain climber from Japan, Monday promised to ‘hang on to the last’ in a bid to climb Argentina’s Mount Aconcagua in January.

• Tuesday, December 4th 2018 - 18:25 UTC

  69-year-old Dutchman remains 69 years old, says court

  

  A 69-year-old Dutchman who petitioned to be declared 20 years younger legally on the grounds that it was how he felt suffered a court setback Monday as the Arnhem judges ruled against him.

• Tuesday, December 4th 2018 - 10:44 UTC

  Maduro off to Moscow in search of Putin's help

  

  After meeting in Caracas with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro took off for Moscow, where he hopes to hold some “serious talks” with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in order to “strengthen and expand diplomatic relations and friendly ties between the brotherly nations.”