French maritime authorities have released the engine room fire incident report of cruise Le Boreal on 17 November 2015, which forced the air evacuation of some 90 passengers and crew to the Falkland Islands, while the rest were transferred to her sister ship L'Áustral. According to the report the fire was due to a clogged fuel filter element, which was disassembled under pressure by a crewmember and thus started leaking fuel.
Prime Minister Theresa May has said the UK will not begin official negotiations on leaving the EU this year as she held talks with Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel. Speaking in Berlin on Wednesday, the PM said securing a sensible and orderly departure from the EU would take time, but she insisted the UK would not walk away from Europe and wanted to retain the closest economic links.
Brazil's central bank, with its recently appointed president, kept interest rates on hold for the eighth consecutive meeting on Wednesday as expected, despite a deep recession, as the new board cited concern about stubbornly high inflation and uncertainty surrounding economic reforms.
The Gibraltar government has started an assessment to determine the impact of not having access to membership of the European Union and of the consequences of an exit. The assessment will look at every area of government business with Chief Minister Fabian Picardo asking all ministers to look at every sphere of their ministerial responsibilities and report back to him and to the Deputy Chief Minister by the end of August.
Leaders from the British Overseas Territories meeting in the Turks and Caicos Islands, TCI, this week heard that the UK will not forget them once it begins its negotiations to exit the European Union, according to the Caribbean media.
Baroness Joyce Anne Anelay is the new Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister for the British Overseas Territories. On 19 July the UK Government announced Baroness Anelay’s appointment in the Theresa May-led administration. She replaces James Duddridge.
Fishing for giant squid (Dosidicus gigas) finally seems to be improving in northwest Peru, which has brought some peace to Paita and other northern ports that rely heavily on this product. The lack of the species has been of great concern to the people of the area, but since last week the cephalopod has slowly reappeared in this part of the Peruvian coast. Now they expect the improvement is sustained and not only a temporary relief.
Half of Brazilians would like to see interim President Michel Temer stay in the job until the next election in 2018, compared with 32% who desire the return of suspended President Dilma Rousseff, according to a Datafolha poll published this weekend on the Folha de S.Paulo website.
Brazil committed a great mistake on supporting Venezuela to the Mercosur trade agreement back in 2012, and the country must be impeded from taking over the pro-tempore presidency of the group until it complies with all the requisites to be a full member, said Brazil's foreign minister Jose Serra.
Diane Simsovic has been announced as the new Head of Policy for the Falkland Islands Government. Simsovic is Canadian and has more than 35 years’ experience in the private and public sectors, with a background working at municipal, provincial and federal levels of Government, primarily focussing on economic development and growth. Ms Simsovic has also previously worked in environmental engineering and management consultancy.