Next January 27, the president-elect of Honduras in Central America, a country known to live off the drugs trade and international aid will be taking office. Xiomara Castro, the first woman president of the country, and an icon of the left-wing progressive parties of Latin America promised during her campaign that her administration would cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan and establish full relations with Beijing, as recently happened in neighboring Nicaragua.
Several Asian countries have suspended the import of Canadian beef, following a case of mad cow disease. China, South Korea, and the Philippines have temporarily halted imports of Canadian beef where an “atypical” case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, was reported.
The MI5, Britain's domestic intelligence service, has warned MPs that a Chinese agent by the name of Christine Ching Kui Lee has infiltrated Westminster to interfere in UK politics. Beijing has denied the accusations.
China has announced it will cut subsidies for green energy vehicles such as electric cars by 30%, beginning January this year. A release from the Ministry of Finance said that the subsidies policy, NEV 2022 will be definitively closed by 31 December 2022.
Nicaragua's Government has seized former Taiwan's Embassy in Managua and handed it over to China, which maintains the Asian island is nothing but a rogue province.
Uruguay's President Luis Lacalle Pou Wednesday admitted his country was after one-on-one trade deals with countries other than China and singled out Turkey was a target. Regarding a possible agreement with the United States, Lacalle said it would be a childhood dream come true.
Chinese researchers have found a perfectly preserved dinosaur embryo. The egg was in all likelihood preserved by a sudden landslide that buried it, according to scientists. The discovery is also said to shed some light on the link between modern birds and dinosaurs.
The reopening of the Chinese market for Brazilian beef did not stem from technical or communications issues, and the good relationship between the two countries will continue to prosper, reach the pre-pandemic level and advance further, according to Brazil's Agriculture minister Tereza Cristina.
Good and bad news for Brazil's beef exports. China finally lifted the ban on Brazilian beef and allowed the resumption of shipments to the great Asian market. But several of the main retailers in Britain and the European Union have announced the banning of Brazilian beef in their shelves because meat processors are using cattle linked to the Amazon and Pantanal deforestation.
France will be holding the rotating six-month European Council presidency in the first half of 2022 and president Emmanuel Macron announced the priorities for the block during its tenure: rethinking the EU budget, dialogue with Russia and Vladimir Putin, and the ongoing dispute with the post-Brexit British government.