Brazil’s Senate approved a weaker version of a hotly disputed bill to regulate car-hailing services like Uber Technologies Inc. on Tuesday after the U.S. company’s chief executive warned it could make its business unworkable in the country. Dara Khosrowshahi, who held talks with senior Brazilian officials in the capital Brasilia, had called on senators toRead more
Immigrants from Honduras and Nicaragua who have Temporary Protected Status in the United States will learn by Monday whether that status is to be extended. If the Department of Homeland Security does not extend TPS for the two countries by November 6, permission to live and work in the U.S. will expire for thousands ofRead more
Bahrain said on Tuesday it would impose entry visas on Qatar nationals and residents in what it called a security measure. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut diplomatic, transport and trade ties with Qatar in June, accusing it of financing terrorism. Doha denies that and says the boycott is an attemptRead more
A top Ukrainian official says Russia should provide U.S. investigators with access to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia after his rule was toppled in Ukraine’s Maidan revolution of 2014. Dmitry Shymkiv, the deputy head of the administration of President Petro Poroshenko, said access to Yanukovych could prove vital to an understandingRead more
The Trump administration will defend America’s decades-old economic embargo on Cuba in a United Nations vote this week, the State Department said Tuesday, in a reversal from the Obama administration that reflects deteriorating U.S.-Cuban relations. Every year the U.N. votes to condemn the embargo, and for years the U.S. predictably voted “no.” But last year,Read more
Syrians hoping to return home to Raqqa now that the city has been liberated from the clutches of the Islamic State terror group are being told to wait indefinitely. Coalition officials say the problem comes from potentially thousands of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and booby traps littered across the city, some already taking a toll.Read more
The World Bank on Tuesday approved $400 million in additional funding to help rebuild services to Iraqi areas recaptured from Islamic State militants after a three-year military campaign, the global development bank said. The World Bank also said it would fund studies on how to involve the private sector in the reconstruction of Mosul’s airportRead more
Britain is accelerating preparations for “all eventualities” when it leaves the European Union, but both sides are hopeful an agreement on stepping up talks to unravel more than 40 years of partnership will be sealed soon. With only 17 months remaining until Britain’s expected departure, the slow pace of talks has increased the possibility thatRead more
Mexico announced Tuesday that its economy shrank 0.2 percent in the third quarter compared with the previous period amid uncertainty related to renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement and local slowdowns caused by natural disasters. Alfredo Coutino, Latin America director at Moody’s Analytics, said the contraction came after Mexico posted GDP gainsRead more
The Iraqi government plans to soon start paying the salaries of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters and civil servants working for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Tuesday. The semi-autonomous KRG has been struggling to pay the Peshmerga and its employees since 2014, after Baghdad stopped payments to it because ofRead more
Iran’s supreme leader has restricted the range of ballistic missiles manufactured in the country to 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles), the head of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Tuesday, which limits their reach to only regional Mideast targets. The comments on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s orders appear to be an effort by Iranian authorities to contrast theirRead more
Spain’s High Court Tuesday called for ousted Catalonia President Carles Puigdemont to appear in court on Thursday morning. Spanish prosecutors announced plans to seek sedition, rebellion and embezzlement charges against Puigdemont and his colleagues, who are currently in Brussels “for safety purposes and freedom”. Puigdemont said Tuesday he would not be seeking asylum in Belgium.Read more
Czech election winner Andrej Babis will attempt to form a minority government after being shunned by other parties, Babis said on Tuesday after meeting the president. The country faces the possibility of months of political wrangling which could put approval of the 2018 budget approval at risk, potentially curbing investments that would help the economyRead more
Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri vowed to press ahead with reforms to the country’s tax, labor and retirement systems in a speech on Monday, a week after his “Let’s Change” coalition swept to victory at the polls in midterm elections. The government will present a tax reform proposal this Tuesday or Wednesday, and an amnesty planRead more
More than 13 million people inside Syria still need humanitarian assistance and nearly half are in “acute need” as a result of having fled their homes, of hostilities, and of limited access to food, health care and other basic needs, the U.N. humanitarian chief said Monday. Mark Lowcock told the Security Council the numberRead more
Two of Venezuela’s leading opposition parties will boycott upcoming political races to protest recent gubernatorial elections that they say were rigged to favor President Nicolas Maduro’s ruling party. National Assembly President Julio Borges announced Monday that his Justice First party will run no candidates in mayoral elections across the country in December. TheRead more
Chile’s frontrunning center-right presidential candidate, Sebastian Pinera, on Monday unveiled a $14 billion, four-year spending plan focused on proposed reforms to the country’s tax and pension systems and new investments in infrastructure and hospitals. The former president, who governed from 2010 to 2014, said he would pay for his proposals by cutting “unnecessary” government spendingRead more
The leaders of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia launched an 826-km (500-mile) rail link connecting the three countries on Monday, establishing a freight and passenger link between Europe and China that bypasses Russia. The line, which includes 105 km of new track, will have the capacity to transport one million passengers and 5 million tons ofRead more