
Supporters of the voluntary interruption of pregnancy (IVE) bill have announced they will make yet another try in March 2019 to get the Argentine Congress to allow women to legally seek an abortion if they so desire, it was reported.

The seven-year-old girl whose phone call with President Donald Trump on Christmas Eve went viral has said she still believes in Santa Claus. Mr Trump threw doubt on the existence of Santa in the call with Collman Lloyd from Lexington in South Carolina.

Japan’s Emperor Akihito, marking his 85th birthday — his last before his upcoming abdication — said he feels relieved that his reign is coming to an end without having seen his country at war and that it is important to keep telling younger people about his nation’s wartime history.

Forty migrants, including two children, have been rescued from boats in five separate incidents on Christmas Day in the English Channel. Lifeboats and a coastguard helicopter intercepted a boat carrying 12 people and a child off the coast of Deal, Kent, at about 04:30 GMT. And a girl was one of eight who arrived in Folkestone at about 02:40 GMT.

Brazil's president-elect Jair Bolsonaro on Tuesday said he wants an agreement with Israel to build desalination plants in the parched north where droughts are frequent. In a message on Twitter, Bolsonaro, who is to take office on Jan. 1, said his appointed Science and Technology Minister Marcos Pontes will travel to Tel Aviv in January to meet with his Israeli counterpart over the matter.

A total 340 people have been reported Tuesday to be incarcerated in Nicaragua for their involvement in anti-givernment actions, according to the National Prison System, as the administration of President Daniel Ortega has been going through a socio-political crisis since April that has left hundreds dead and thousands either under arrest or injured. Human rights NGOs estimate the number of detainees to be almost twice as many.

Japan will withdraw from the International Whaling Commission in 2019 to pave the way for the resumption of commercial whaling for the first time in about three decades, the government said on Wednesday, a decision likely to draw international condemnation.

The Pope has used his annual Christmas message to appeal for peace in conflict zones including Yemen and Syria. The two countries have both been ravaged by civil war for years, pushing their people into humanitarian crises. Francis also called for political reconciliation in Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Venezuelan human rights activists and opposition party Voluntad Popular (VP) Monday opened an exhibition about the country's political prisoners, their alleged tortures and the plights hundreds of victims of the Nicolás Naduri regime have gone through.

Argentina, Brazil and India lead the prospects of an economic recovery, according to Michael Hasenstab of Templeton Global Bond Fund Management.