Politics

• Tuesday, May 19th 2020 - 15:34 UTC

  Costa Rica becomes 38th member of OECD

  

  OECD countries unanimously decided last Friday to invite Costa Rica to become a member of the Organization. Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado Quesada and OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría will sign an Accession Agreement in the coming days.

• Tuesday, May 19th 2020 - 08:53 UTC

  WHO admits an independent probe into the coronavirus management; China pledges US$ 2 Billion

  

  The World Health Organization bowed to calls on Monday from most of its member states to launch an independent probe into how it managed the international response to the coronavirus, which has been clouded by finger-pointing between the U.S. and China over a pandemic that has killed over 300,000 people and leveled the global economy.

• Tuesday, May 19th 2020 - 08:45 UTC

  Desperate efforts to save indigenous people from tribes in the Amazon rainforest

  

  The novel coronavirus is spreading so fast among the indigenous people in the furthest parts of Brazil's Amazon rainforest that doctors are now evacuating critical COVID-19 patients by plane to the only intensive care units in the vast region.

• Tuesday, May 19th 2020 - 08:40 UTC

  Clashes with police in Santiago de Chile because of food shortages in the poorest neighborhoods

  

  Police and protesters clashed in Santiago on Monday amid a city-wide lockdown meant to stem the spread of the coronavirus as local officials warned that food shortages had hit one of the Chilean capital's poorest neighborhoods.

• Tuesday, May 19th 2020 - 08:30 UTC

  Bolsonaro disregards public health advice while Sao Paulo struggles with a healthcare system virtually collapsed

  

  Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro again disregarded public health advice amid the coronavirus pandemic on Sunday to snap photos with lockdown protesters, as the country’s largest city of Sao Paulo struggles to keep its healthcare system afloat with public hospitals at 90 percent capacity.

• Tuesday, May 19th 2020 - 08:03 UTC

  France and Germany confirm alliance and propose 500 bn Euro recovery fund for Europe

  

  France and Germany proposed on Monday a 500-billion-euro (US$545-billion) fund to finance the recovery of the European Union's economy from the devastation wrought by the coronavirus crisis.

• Tuesday, May 19th 2020 - 08:02 UTC

  China slaps 80% tariff on Australian barley alleging subsidies and dumping

  

  Australia is “disappointed” China has imposed massive tariffs on its barley and will consider taking the dispute to the World Trade Organization, the country's agriculture minister said on Tuesday.

• Monday, May 18th 2020 - 08:58 UTC

  The failed operation to oust Maduro by a Canadian mercenary ex Green Beret

  

  By Gwynne Dyer – It's hard being born Canadian if your ambition is to be a real-life version of movie tough guy Jean-Claude Van Damme (Blood Sport, Death Warrant, Universal Soldier, Last Action Hero). The same goes for being Belgian, of course, but Van Damme just wanted to be in the movies.

• Monday, May 18th 2020 - 08:45 UTC

  Argentine anti corruption office drops two cases against Cristina Kirchner and siblings

  

  In the midst of the pandemic Argentine vice president, Cristina Fernandez managed one of the objectives that the opposition claims were part of the political agreement with current head of state Alberto Fernandez, who was elected with the landslide of votes from the former president.

• Monday, May 18th 2020 - 08:38 UTC

  Google retracts itself, Cristina Fernandez is not the “thief of the Nation”

  

  Googling has become for many the source of virtual knowledge, but it is also a source of many errors and misinformation, even when accepted as the undisputed revelation. Such is the case of what happened over the weekend with the name of the Argentine leader, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner on Google since the first search result returned a “thief of the Nation”.