International

• Thursday, November 21st 2019 - 07:28 UTC

  Australia's main cities choked by smoke from bushfires, some out of control

  

  The fire danger was elevated across wider swathes of southern Australia on Thursday, with residents warned to avoid at-risk areas as smoke from bushfires choked Sydney and other major cities. Devastating fires along the country's east coast have claimed six lives and destroyed more than 500 homes since mid-October, with climate change and unseasonably hot, dry conditions fuelling the unprecedented blazes.

• Wednesday, November 20th 2019 - 09:56 UTC

  Fernandez tells IMF, “we want to make a commitment that we can keep”

  

  Argentina’s president-elect, Alberto Fernandez, has a “sustainable” plan to meet creditor obligations as well as maintain growth, he told the International Monetary Fund´s managing director Kristalina Georgieva, his office said.

• Wednesday, November 20th 2019 - 09:29 UTC

  Trump again threatens China with higher tariffs if no deal is reached

  

  The United States would raise tariffs on Chinese imports if no deal is reached with Beijing to end a trade war, US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, threatening an escalation of the spat that has damaged economic growth worldwide.

• Wednesday, November 20th 2019 - 09:28 UTC

  Begins the recovery of Venice's Saint Mark's Basilica exposed to destructive salt water from the flooding

  

  Venice's historic Saint Mark's Basilica will need millions of Euros of restoration work after it was flooded this week for just the sixth time in 1,200 years, leaving its delicate marble mosaics exposed to destructive salt water, its curator said.

• Wednesday, November 20th 2019 - 09:24 UTC

  Brexit and NHS in Johnson/Corbyn first TV debate ahead of December 12 election

  

  Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn traded blows on Tuesday over Brexit and the health system as they vied for votes during the first-ever head-to-head TV debate.

• Wednesday, November 20th 2019 - 09:20 UTC

  Ferry crew find 25 migrants in refrigerated container bound for UK

  

  A ferry crew found 25 migrants in a refrigerated container on a boat sailing from the Netherlands to Britain on Tuesday, emergency services said. The cargo vessel bound for Felixstowe returned to the Dutch port of Vlaardingen, near Rotterdam, as soon as the stowaways were found, they said in a statement.

• Wednesday, November 20th 2019 - 08:57 UTC

  Australia lifts fire danger to “catastrophic” and closes schools in the southeast

  

  More than 100 schools in Australia's southeast were closed on Wednesday and officials warned people in high-risk zones to be ready to evacuate as forecast high temperatures risked opening up a new front in raging bushfires.

• Wednesday, November 20th 2019 - 08:49 UTC

  FBI regrets not having acted more swiftly in the intellectual property dispute with Beijing

  

  The FBI wished it had taken swifter action as Beijing recruited US-based researchers to transfer intellectual property from American laboratories, a senior official at the agency said on Tuesday during Senate testimony.

• Wednesday, November 20th 2019 - 08:42 UTC

  French minister meets northeast Brazil states governors to discuss sustainable development

  

  French minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, met on Tuesday in Paris with the Brazilian governors of the nine states of the consortium for sustainable development in the northeast of the country.

• Wednesday, November 20th 2019 - 07:25 UTC

  One for the French ducks: court rules they can carry on quacking

  

  The ducks on a small French smallholding may carry on quacking, a French court ruled on Tuesday, rejecting a neighbor's complaint that the birds' racket was making their life a misery.