Costa Rica

The Romanian Court of Appeal on Tuesday sentenced former President Traian Basescu's daughter, Ioana Basescu, to five years in prison for her involvement in laundering money for her father's electoral campaign.

The European Commission has so far approved all requests for the export of Covid-19 vaccines, including to Britain, the United States and Japan, since it set up on January 30 a mechanism to monitor vaccine trade, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.

On Friday, President Klaus Iohannis signed accreditation decrees for several Romanian ambassadors, including Cristian Istrate to Russia, Bogdan Manoiu to Canada and Daniela-Laura Popescu to the UK.

Costa Rica police seized the largest amount of drug in its history yesterday - 5 tonnes of cocaine hidden in a container of flowers that was to be loaded today in the port of Limon, on the Caribbean coast, France Press reported.

The drug was hidden in a shipment of flowers traveling to the Dutch port city of Rotterdam, the Interior Minister said.

Some 80 armed men attacked an indigenous community on Nicaragua's northern Caribbean coast, killing several people, authorities said on Jan. 30. Local leaders said there were six dead, while police said two died.

China will reduce tariffs on more than 850 imported goods, including frozen pork and frozen avocado, from January 1, 2020, Reuters reported, citing a statement from the Chinese Treasury. From 1 July 2020, duties on certain IT products will be further reduced.

The EU Commission announced on Dec. 18 that it will provide financial support to member states who made a collective pledge of more than 30,000 refugee resettlement places.

EU member countries made the pledge during the two-day Global Refugee Forum in Geneva, which was co‐hosted by the UN and Switzerland and co-convened by Turkey, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Germany and Pakistan.

The first-ever Global Refugee Forum in Geneva is a chance for the world to build a "more equitable response" to the refugee crisis, the UN chief said on Dec. 17.

The first Global Refugee Forum, co-convened by Turkey, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Germany, and Pakistan, will start on Dec. 16 in Geneva.

Brazil is becoming a growing exporter, ahead of Colombia's largest producer. This became clear from announced customs data, BGNES reported.

So far this year, by September 25, authorities have seized 40.7 tonnes of cocaine at the Belgian port of Antwerp, the main entry point for drugs. Quarter of the seized drugs, 26 percent, came from Brazil, according to Belgian Customs Services.