Brazil’s Bolsonaro taps astronaut, courts judge for cabinet
Brazil’s far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro set about staffing his new administration on Wednesday, naming an astronaut as science minister while a top anti-corruption judge mulled a job offer.
China birth rate set to continue decline this year: China Daily
China’s birth rate is set to decline further this year as well as over the next few years, despite the country’s 2016 move to relax its controversial “one-child policy”, the China Daily newspaper said on Thursday, citing population experts.
Peru opposition leader Fujimori ordered back to jail by judge
A judge on Wednesday ordered Peru’s opposition leader, Keiko Fujimori, returned to jail pending a trial over allegations she used her conservative party to launder money for Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.
Venezuelan court frees men jailed for video mocking Maduro: groups
Two Venezuelan firefighters who were jailed last month after mocking unpopular President Nicolas Maduro in a viral video portraying him as a donkey were freed on Wednesday, two human rights groups said.
Mexico’s president-elect meets airport construction firms
Mexican president-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador met on Wednesday with Hermes and ICA, two of the biggest construction firms contracted to build a $13 billion airport near the capital that is now slated to be scrapped, company executives said.
Libya’s rival assemblies see progress in unifying authorities
Libya’s rival parliaments agreed on Wednesday to work together to reform state institutions in an attempt to unify government authority in the oil producer, officials from both sides said.
U.S. says ‘climate is right’ for talks to end war in Yemen
The Trump administration on Wednesday reinforced its call for a ceasefire in Yemen and said the “climate is right” for the combatants to return to U.N.-backed peace talks to end the more than three-year war.
U.N. says Austria and Hungary mistaken to shun non-binding migrant pact
Austria and Hungary’s decision to turn their backs on a U.N. agreement on how to manage migration is bizarre and mistaken, U.N. Special Representative for International Migration Louise Arbour told Reuters on Wednesday.
New migrant caravan departs El Salvador for U.S.
About 2,000 migrants set off on foot from El Salvador’s capital on Wednesday, the latest of several groups of Central Americans heading to the United States, even as U.S. President Donald Trump increased pressure to halt their flow.
Trump hardens stance on Mexico border, says 15,000 troops could be sent
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States could send as many as 15,000 troops to the border with Mexico, as he hardens his stance against a caravan of migrants fleeing violence and poverty in Central America.
