The Trump administration has decidedit cannot authorize new flood insurance policies, potentially putting thousands of home sales in limbo. They cited the partial shutdown of the federal government due to a budget impasse in Congress. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which oversees a federal program that insures about 5 million homes and businesses, posted a notice on its website that the program will not be able to “issue new contracts for flood insurance during a lapse in authority unless Congress passes legislation.”
Between heavy sobs, Catarina Alonzo explainedthat when her husband left Guatemala to try to reach the United States, they hoped taking their 8-year-old son would make it easier for the pair to get in. Instead, the boy fell ill and died. Detained on the U.S. border, Felipe Gomez Alonzo died late on Christmas Eve in a New Mexico hospital a few weeks after setting off with his father, becoming the second Guatemalan child to die this month while in U.S. custody.
From Breakingviews:China and the United States’ global Cold War has an increasingly important theatre: Africa. On different metrics Uncle Sam and the Middle Kingdom can claim to be the continent’s biggest player. In 2019, China will pull ahead, writes Ed Cropley, former Reuters Africa bureau chief and Breakingviews Africa columnist.
Stocks in Europe and Asia rose cautiously after Wall Street ended a volatile session with big gains, but fears of further price swings and worries about U.S. politics kept safe-haven currencies such as the yen and Swiss franc in demand.
Oil prices rebounded, recovering slightly from heavy losses this week, but remained close to the lowest levels in over a year as rising U.S. inventories and concern over global economic growth rattled markets.
China has opened the door to imports of rice from the United States for the first time ever in what analysts took to signal a warming of relations between the world’s two biggest economies after a frosty year marked by tensions and tit-for-tat tariffs.
Chile will delay a previously announced arbitration with Albemarle, the world’s top lithium producer, in anticipation that the U.S.-based miner will make a new offer to bring it into compliance with a 2016 contract, a source close to the negotiations told Reuters.
