International

• Friday, September 13th 2019 - 16:35 UTC

  Brazilian air force begins test program with Swedish Gripen fighter

  

  Swedish manufacturer Saab has presented the first Brazilian Gripen E fighter aircraft during a ceremony in Linköping, Sweden, to begin the flight test program. The ceremony was attended by representatives from Brazilian Air Force, Swedish Air Force, Saab, and defense ministers of the two countries.

• Friday, September 13th 2019 - 12:40 UTC

  Maduro will not attend UN General Assembly but will deliver 12m signatures denouncing US sanctions

  

  Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he will not travel to New York for the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly later this month, but that two of his envoys would attend to denounce U.S. sanctions on the OPEC nation.

• Friday, September 13th 2019 - 11:54 UTC

  Chinese private firms return to buy some 600.000 tons of US soybeans

  

  Privately run Chinese firms bought at least 10 boatloads of U.S. soybeans on Thursday, the country's most significant purchases since at least June, traders said, ahead of high-level talks next month aimed at ending a bilateral trade war that has lasted more than a year.

• Friday, September 13th 2019 - 11:47 UTC

  IMF remains strongly engaged with Argentina; meeting with officials scheduled for later this month

  

  The International Monetary Fund is continuing talks with Argentina as authorities there try to stem spiraling economic problems in Latin America’s third-largest economy, IMF spokesman Gerry Rice told reporters on Thursday.

• Friday, September 13th 2019 - 11:43 UTC

  Australian giant seal helps catch a drug smuggling gang with US$ 690 million in cocaine

  

  Australian police have thwarted a billion-dollar international drug smuggling operation, reportedly with the help of a giant seal. An international investigation into the drug gang reached its climax last week after an abandoned yacht was found on the shoreline of Stick Island, off the coast of Western Australia, sparking a search for its occupants.

• Friday, September 13th 2019 - 09:49 UTC

  Falklands' lawmakers attending overseas conferences in September and October

  

  Busy months ahead for Falkland Islands lawmakers who will be attending at a very special moment several overseas meetings of major interest for the Islands. In coming weeks the Falklands as a British Overseas Territory faces one of its greatest challenges for its future, in uncharted waters and still unclear trade and political consequences, such is the impact of Brexit.

• Friday, September 13th 2019 - 07:07 UTC

  UK names preferred bidder for Type 31 frigates: first one should be delivered in 2023

  

  The race to design and build a new generation of Royal Navy frigates has been won by engineering firm Babcock. It has been named preferred bidder for the £1.25bn contract for five Type 31 warships. The deal secures hundreds of jobs at Rosyth in Fife, where the ships will be assembled, with construction work expected to be spread between yards across the UK.

• Thursday, September 12th 2019 - 22:37 UTC

  US unearths cold war inter-American defense treaty to warn Venezuela's military and political threats

  

  The government of Venezuela has denounced the US invocation of a Cold War-era mutual defense treaty on behalf of the opposition in Caracas, a move which clears the way for military intervention in the Latin American country.

• Thursday, September 12th 2019 - 19:31 UTC

  US and Beijing agree a brief “cease fire” on 70th anniversary of “red” China

  

  US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States has agreed to delay increasing tariffs on US$250 billion worth of Chinese imports from Oct 1 to Oct 15 “as a gesture of goodwill.”

• Thursday, September 12th 2019 - 19:28 UTC

  Scientists reveal discovery of exoplanet with Earth-like temperatures and water

  

  Water has been discovered for the first time in the atmosphere of an exoplanet with Earth-like temperatures that could support life as we know it, scientists revealed on Wednesday. Eight times the mass of Earth and twice as big, K2-18b orbits in its star's “habitable zone” at a distance - neither too far nor too close - where water can exist in liquid form, they reported in the journal Nature Astronomy.