International

• Monday, April 13th 2020 - 10:30 UTC

  EU agrees massive emergency Euros 500bn fund; Germany says “nein” to mutual guaranteed coronabonds

  

  European Union finance ministers have agreed on a massive emergency package designed to ensure that member-states hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic will have the necessary resources to rebuild their economies.

• Monday, April 13th 2020 - 10:20 UTC

  LATAM suspends all international flights until May

  

  Latin America's biggest airline, the Brazilian-Chilean group LATAM, is suspending all international flights until May because of the coronavirus pandemic.

• Monday, April 13th 2020 - 10:15 UTC

  Mexico has its oil protected by a sovereign hedge ensuring against low prices

  

  While Mexico and Saudi Arabia fought over a deal to bring the oil-price war to an end, Mexico has a powerful defense: a massive Wall Street hedge shielding it from low prices. The Mexican sovereign oil hedge, which ensures the country against low prices and is considered a state secret, is a factor that may make the country less inclined to accept the OPEC+ agreement.

• Monday, April 13th 2020 - 09:44 UTC

  Assange fathered two children with one of his lawyers while in the Ecuador embassy

  

  Wiki Leaks founder Julian Assange fathered two children with one of his lawyers while holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London for much of the past decade, a report on Sunday said. The 48-year-old Australian is allegedly the dad of two boys - aged two and one - born to South African-born lawyer Stella Morris, the Mail on Sunday reported.

• Monday, April 13th 2020 - 09:41 UTC

  FAO: Global cereals stock to-use-ratio “comfortable”; bumper crops of corn in Southern Hemisphere

  

  FAO's forecast for 2020 world wheat production remains unchanged in March from the previous month, at the near-record level of last year, which, coupled with ample inventories, will help shield food markets from turmoil during the coronavirus storm.

• Monday, April 13th 2020 - 09:39 UTC

  Food Prices declines sharply in March except rice as countries stockpile

  

  World food prices declined sharply in March, driven mostly by demand-side contractions linked to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the drop in global oil prices due mostly to expectations of economic slowdown as governments roll out restrictions designed to respond to the health crisis.

• Monday, April 13th 2020 - 08:50 UTC

  EU planning measures to prevent threat of Chinese takeovers of companies shares

  

  The European Union's competition chief told the Financial Times that member countries should buy stakes in companies to counter the threat of Chinese takeovers, with her comments coming as the EU formulates plans to protect its businesses amid the coronavirus outbreak.

• Monday, April 13th 2020 - 08:16 UTC

  Francis prayed for Covid 19 victims in a live stream Easter Sunday message from an empty Vatican

  

  Pope Francis prayed for tens of thousands of COVID-19 victims in an unprecedented live-stream Easter Sunday message delivered from a hauntingly empty Vatican to a world under lockdown.

• Monday, April 13th 2020 - 07:27 UTC

  Boris Johnson leaves hospital, thanks nurses, praises NHS, but ministers under fire as UK death toll is over 10.000

  

  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson left the hospital on Sunday and thanked the staff for saving his life from COVID-19, but his government was forced to defend its response to the coronavirus outbreak as the national death toll passed 10,000.

• Monday, April 13th 2020 - 07:19 UTC

  Portuguese president praises Porto nurse Luis who cared for Boris Johnson

  

  Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa on Sunday expressed his thanks to a Portuguese nurse who had tended to coronavirus-stricken British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in intensive care, according to a statement by the presidency.