
Brazil's industry confidence rose 1.8 points in December to 114.9 points, reaching the highest level in more than 10 years, an economic research center said on Monday.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has approved placing more parts of the country into tier 4 restrictions, as the country battles a new variant of Covid-19 which scientists say can spread more rapidly, The Times reported.

Ireland's most liberal Roman Catholic prelate, the Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin, is to step aside having reached the normal retirement age for bishops of 75, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

Brazil's Fiocruz biomedical institute will seek approval for the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 with federal health regulator Anvisa on Jan. 15, one of the center's senior officials said on Monday.

President-elect Joe Biden said on Monday many of America's security agencies had been hollowed out under President Donald Trump and the lack of information being provided to his transition team by the outgoing administration was an irresponsibility.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, one of the world's most prominent coronavirus skeptics, said over the weekend he was not worried about criticism over the speed of Brazil's vaccine rollout, saying he felt no pressure.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday said a move by the opposition-controlled National Assembly to extend its term into next year was “unconstitutional,” and called on the country's justice system to “do its work.”

Cross-border workers who commute between Gibraltar and Spain will be exempt from border controls after Brexit even if no agreement on free movement is reached with Britain, Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said on Monday.

Spain will set up a registry of people who refuse to be vaccinated against the new coronavirus and share it with other European Union member states, although it will not be made public, Health Minister Salvador Illa said on Monday.

Pfizer has postponed the delivery of new batches of its coronavirus vaccine to eight European nations including Spain, the Spanish health ministry said on Monday, a day after the European Union began its immunization campaign.