International

• Friday, January 19th 2018 - 09:49 UTC

  Portugal, India, Indonesia and Spain win UNWTO awards for tourism innovation

  

  Turismo de Portugal I.P (Portugal), Ecotourism Trust (India), Tryponyu (Indonesia) and SEGGITUR (Spain) are the winners of the 14th Edition of the UNWTO Awards for Innovation in Tourism. Fourteen projects among 128 applicants from 55 countries were selected as finalists of the 14th UNWTO Awards for Innovation in Tourism.

• Friday, January 19th 2018 - 09:39 UTC

  EU lifts anti-dumpling duties imposed on Argentine bio-diesel, as indicated by WTO

  

  European Union ambassadors agreed on Thursday to withdraw an appeal to the European Court of Justice meaning the bloc will have to accept its verdict annulling anti-dumping duties imposed on imports of biodiesel from Argentina and Indonesia.

• Friday, January 19th 2018 - 09:32 UTC

  UK appoints a “minister of loneliness” to tackle the “hidden epidemic” that affects nine million Britons

  

  Britain appointed a “minister for loneliness” on Wednesday to tackle what Prime Minister Theresa May described as “the sad reality of modern life” affecting millions of people. Tracey Crouch, a junior minister for sport and civil society, will take on the role as part of a broader strategy to combat loneliness in Britain.

• Friday, January 19th 2018 - 09:27 UTC

  Beijing claims economy growth picks up after seven years, but there are doubts about Chinese stats

  

  China's economy grew by 6.9% in 2017 according to official data - the first time in seven years the pace of growth has picked up. The figure beats Beijing's official annual expansion target of about 6.5% and is good news for the global economy since China's impact and the better-than-expected data is likely to cheer investors around the world.

• Friday, January 19th 2018 - 09:24 UTC

  Emirates Airlines saves the Airbus A380 with a US$ 16bn order

  

  The Emirates airline has announced an order for up to 36 Airbus A380s. The US$16bn deal amounts to a reprieve for the A380 after Airbus threatened to stop making the jet if it could not come to a deal with Emirates.

• Friday, January 19th 2018 - 09:18 UTC

  A Falklands' Caracara escapes from London Zoo and spends ten days on the loose

  

  A powerful bird of prey native to the Falkland Islands was captured on Wednesday after escaping from London Zoo and spending 10 days on the loose. There were repeated sightings of the two-foot tall raptor, called a Striated Caracara, in Camden this week, with one report that it was seen “ripping into a whole cooked chicken”.

• Friday, January 19th 2018 - 09:13 UTC

  China poured US$ 21bn into Brazil in 2017 taking advantage of recession asset prices

  

  China invested US$20.9 billion in Brazil in 2017, the most since 2010 as a recession helped push down asset prices and attracted investors, according to Brazil’s planning ministry.The energy, logistics and agriculture sectors drew the most Chinese capital, including investments in Brazil’s rich pre-salt oil fields and China’s State Power Investment Corp US$2.25 billion deal to operate the São Simão hydropower plant.

• Friday, January 19th 2018 - 05:21 UTC

  Foreign Office director in Chile to discuss UK's exit and transition process

  

  The Foreign Office Director of the Economic Diplomacy Directorate Hugh Elliot is currently in Chile on a two day visit to discuss the UK’s transition process from the European Union with the Chilean Government. Mr. Elliot is the UK's government main interlocutor for the transition program of agreements and third countries.

• Friday, January 19th 2018 - 05:04 UTC

  Pope marries two flight attendants from Chile's flagship en route to Iquique

  

  Pope Francis celebrated the first-ever airborne papal wedding on Thursday, marrying two flight attendants from Chile’s flagship airline at 36,000 feet during a flight from Santiago.

• Thursday, January 18th 2018 - 20:23 UTC

  EU sanctions against Venezuelan officials

  

  Among the sanctioned are the number two of the government, Diosdado Cabello; Néstor Reverol, minister of Justice and Maikel Moreno, president of the Supreme Court of Justice. These are new individual sanctions, which include the freezing of assets and the prohibition to travel to the countries of the European bloc to at least seven senior Venezuelan officials.