IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Ukraine

Govt gets $3.9b credit line from IMF

The International Monetary Fund approved a new $3.9 billion standby aid agreement for Ukraine on Tuesday, intended to help the country maintain stability and the trust of investors as it heads into a choppy election period. The Finance Ministry said a first tranche of $1.4 billion should arrive by Dec 25, and decisions on the next two tranches would come in May and November next year. Separately, the World Bank on Tuesday announced a $750 billion loan guarantee to help Ukraine raise an estimated $1 billion in debt on international markets.

India

Pesticide in temple food that killed 15

A toxic pesticide that a UN agency wanted India to ban a decade ago contaminated food that killed at least 15 people at a temple last week, police said on Tuesday. More than 100 also had to go to hospital after devotees consumed portions of tomato rice blessed at the Hindu temple in the southern state of Karnataka. A police officer said laboratory tests showed the presence of monocrotophos - a pesticide which attacks the nerves - in food and vomit samples. The pesticide was responsible for the death of 23 schoolchildren in the state of Bihar in 2013.

United States

Yemeni mother can see her dying son

A mother from Yemen was on Tuesday granted her wish to see her dying toddler one last time in the US, which agreed to issue her a waiver from its ban on citizens from several countries. Two-year-old Abdullah Hassan, a US citizen like his father, suffers from a rare genetic brain condition and is on life support in a hospital in Oakland, California. But his mother, Shaima Swileh, had been unable to join him due to the government's order barring visitors from six countries including Yemen. After a tearful televised plea from the boy's father prompted public outrage, the US embassy in Cairo issued a visa for Swileh, who has been living temporarily in Egypt.

Brazil

50 held over colluding with drug traffickers

Authorities on Tuesday arrested at least 50 police officers and three civilians suspected of working for drug traffickers, the prosecutor's office said. The suspects were charged with soliciting money from the Primer Comando de la Capital (First Command of the Capital or PCC), the country's most powerful criminal organization.

Reuters - Afp - Xinhua

(China Daily 12/20/2018 page12)