Stories for 2020

Wednesday, September 16th 2020 - 07:12 UTC
Government House in the Falkland Islands features in new book of official residences

A new book featuring the historic Government House in the Falkland Islands looks at the unique histories of over fifty Vice-Regal Residences of the Crown in the Commonwealth Realms, Crown Dependencies, and Overseas Territories across the world.
Wednesday, September 16th 2020 - 07:07 UTC
Taiwanese companies returning to the island because of the growing aggressiveness of Beijing

Taiwan sits squarely in the middle of the worsening dispute between Beijing and Washington with many of its companies operating factories in China manufacturing for American companies.
Wednesday, September 16th 2020 - 07:00 UTC
Islands' Bits and Bobs

As a result of Covid-19 impacts and restrictions the Falkland Islands' Department of Agriculture has redirected surplus funds towards a salary for a third Agricultural Advisor. Director of Natural Resources Andrea Clausen told the Agricultural Advisory Committee that the move had been made in light of the high workload on the current Advisors, particularly with the need to support the investigation of Responsible Wool Handling and of businesses managing a future of lower wool and red meat prices due to uncertainties in the world market, the impact of Covid-19 and Brexit.
Wednesday, September 16th 2020 - 06:20 UTC
Spain asks Venezuela to offer “democratic guarantees” in parliamentary elections

The Spanish government has asked the Venezuelan authorities to offer ‘democratic guarantees’ in the upcoming parliamentary elections, Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya said.
Tuesday, September 15th 2020 - 09:50 UTC
Huge calving at the Arctic ice shelf: the massive chunk is larger than Paris

A massive chunk of ice - larger than the city of Paris - has broken off from the Arctic's largest ice shelf because of warmer temperatures in Greenland, scientists said on Monday. The 113 sq km block broke off the Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden glacier in Northeast Greenland, which the scientists said had been expected given the rising average temperatures.
Tuesday, September 15th 2020 - 09:40 UTC
AstraZeneca Oxford University Covid-19 vaccine trials resume in Brazil

Clinical trials for the coronavirus vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca PLC and Oxford University resumed in Brazil on Monday after the country’s health regulator got confirmation over the weekend that its British equivalent MHRA had approved the restart, a company representative said.
Tuesday, September 15th 2020 - 09:19 UTC
Ecological disaster: fires destroying Brazil's wetlands suffering the worst drought in 47 years

Fires are raging in the wetlands of west-central Brazil, leaving behind a vast swath of charred ruins in a paradise of biodiversity. The enormous fires have destroyed nearly 12% of the world’s largest tropical wetland, partially reducing to ashes one of the most biologically diverse ecosystems on the planet.
Tuesday, September 15th 2020 - 09:11 UTC
Lula charged with money laundering bribes from Odebrecht

Prosecutors in Brazil's sprawling Car Wash corruption investigation on Monday charged former President Lula da Silva with money laundering, less than a year after the country's top court ordered him freed from jail while he appealed his conviction in another case.
Tuesday, September 15th 2020 - 09:10 UTC
Trump denies climate change in California; Biden called him a “climate arsonist”

President Donald Trump on Monday suggested global warming will reverse itself and dismissed climate change as a cause of ferocious fires engulfing swaths of the US West, during a briefing in California on the deadly blazes.
Tuesday, September 15th 2020 - 09:09 UTC
Falklands restored peatlands could become a piggy bank, University of Manchester paper

A new study by the UK Center for Ecology and Hydrology suggests that restoring the Falkland Island peatlands could lead to up to £47 million worth of carbon offsets. The findings came in a report co-authored by Jonathan Ritson, a Research Associate at the University of Manchester.