International

• Tuesday, December 18th 2018 - 09:35 UTC

  Creditors demanding payment of US$ 1.5 billion Venezuelan bond in default

  

  A group of creditors has demanded payment on a US$ 1.5 billion Venezuelan bond that is in default, their lawyer said on Monday, kicking off a long-awaited showdown between creditors and the crisis-wracked OPEC nation. President Nicolas Maduro’s government and state-owned companies owe nearly US$ 8 billion in unpaid interest and principal following this year’s default on bonds amid a hyperinflationary collapse of the country’s once-wealthy socialist economy.

• Tuesday, December 18th 2018 - 09:31 UTC

  Twitter warns on a “bug-in-help-form” and unusual activity from China and Saudi Arabia

  

  Twitter has warned of “unusual activity” from China and Saudi Arabia related to a bug in a help form. The bug - discovered on 15 November and fixed the day after - could have revealed the country code of users' phone numbers or if their account was locked, the company said.

• Tuesday, December 18th 2018 - 09:17 UTC

  Labour's Jeremy Corbyn has called for a no confidence vote in PM Theresa May

  

  The leader of Britain’s main opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said he was calling for a no-confidence vote in Prime Minister Theresa May — a largely symbolic gesture — for not putting her Brexit plan to a vote by lawmakers immediately.

• Tuesday, December 18th 2018 - 09:03 UTC

  UK economy growth feeling the uncertainty impact of Brexit: weakest since 2009

  

  British economic growth this year and in 2019 looks set to be the weakest since the country’s last recession, due to a freeze in business investment and weak consumer demand ahead of Brexit, the British Chambers of Commerce forecast on Tuesday.

• Monday, December 17th 2018 - 21:34 UTC

  Argentine cemetery benefactor visits Falklands to say “thank you” for the joint humanitarian identification program

  

  Argentine entrepreneur Eduardo Eurnekián, who financed the Argentine cemetery in the Falkland Islands to bury with dignity those who perished in the 1982 war and also the March 26 flights for relatives to visit the graves of the newly-identified bodies, last week flew to the Islands to the place that has touched his heart since 2003 and thank everybody for the humanitarian accomplishment.

• Monday, December 17th 2018 - 08:34 UTC

  Bug in Facebook exposed photos from 6.8 million users

  

  Facebook has revealed that a software bug exposed the photos of up to 6.8 million users, including pictures they had not posted. It made the announcement a day after hosting its pop-up privacy experience “It's Your Facebook” in New York's Bryant Park.

• Monday, December 17th 2018 - 08:26 UTC

  Controversy in UK over a second Brexit referendum, proposed by ex PMs Tony Blair and John Major

  

  Holding another referendum on the EU would “break faith with the British people”, Theresa May will warn MPs. Former PMs John Major and Tony Blair are among those urging a new referendum if MPs cannot agree on a way forward. But the prime minister will argue that it would do “irreparable damage to the integrity our politics” and would “likely leave us no further forward”.

• Monday, December 17th 2018 - 07:40 UTC

  Brazil refutes Merkel's comments on Mercosur and Bolsonaro

  

  Brazil’s outgoing Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi said that Mercosur is ready to close a trade agreement with the European Union but it is being held up because the Europeans do not want to close a deal.

• Saturday, December 15th 2018 - 09:20 UTC

  Euro falls on disappointing French and German economic prospects

  

  The Euro has fallen against the dollar after disappointing French and German economic surveys dismayed the markets. In France, private sector business activity contracted for the first time in two and a half years as the “gilets Jaunes” protests took their toll.

• Saturday, December 15th 2018 - 09:14 UTC

  Brexit: Britons will have to pay €7 every three years to travel to EU countries

  

  Britons will have to pay €7 (£6.30) every three years to travel to EU countries, as a consequence of Brexit. The European Commission has confirmed that while UK travelers will not need a visa, they will need to apply for and buy another document.