Stories for March 20th 2021

Saturday, March 20th 2021 - 09:17 UTC
Venezuelans agree to purchase US$ 30 million in Covax vaccines; Guaidó will ask US for funds to be unfrozen

As part of a rare deal between Venezuela’s government and the opposition, some US$ 30.3 million of the country’s offshore funds that were frozen under U.S. sanctions will be used to pay for coronavirus vaccines.
Saturday, March 20th 2021 - 09:17 UTC
Rio beaches closed for the weekend and no tourists allowed into the city

Rio de Janeiro closed its famed beaches on Friday in a bid to contain a surge of COVID-19, a move criticized by anti-lockdown President Jair Bolsonaro, who said sun-deprived citizens risked a lack of vitamin D.
Saturday, March 20th 2021 - 09:07 UTC
WHO urges countries to continue using the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine

The World Health Organization (WHO) exhorted the world to keep administering AstraZeneca's COVID-19 shots on Friday, adding its endorsement to that of European and British regulators after concerns over blood clotting.
Saturday, March 20th 2021 - 09:07 UTC
VW closing down production in four plants in Brazil because of the pandemic

Germany's Volkswagen said on Friday that it will suspend production at its four plants in Brazil owing to a surge in coronavirus infections in the country. The Wolfsburg-based firm said it will stop factories from March 24 for a 12-day period “to protect the health of its employees and their families.”
Saturday, March 20th 2021 - 08:58 UTC
Volcano erupts in Iceland with lava spewing fountains of up to 100 meters high

A volcano erupted near Iceland's capital Reykjavik on Friday, shooting lava high into the night sky after thousands of small earthquakes in recent weeks.
Saturday, March 20th 2021 - 08:58 UTC
Despite the pandemic, Finland ranks for the fourth year running as the world's happiest country, UN report

Covid-19 has done little to alter the ranking of the world's happiest countries, with Finland at the top for a fourth year running, an annual UN-sponsored report said on Friday.
Saturday, March 20th 2021 - 08:44 UTC
G7 finance ministers agree on “a new and sizeable” increase in IMF capital; US demands transparency

REUTERS – The world's seven largest advanced economies have agreed to support the first expansion of the International Monetary Fund's reserves since 2009, a step meant to help developing countries cope with the coronavirus pandemic, Britain announced on Friday.
Saturday, March 20th 2021 - 08:44 UTC
Boris Johnson received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, “I did not feel a thing”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson received his first dose of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine on Friday and urged the public to do the same, saying “he did not feel a thing.”
Saturday, March 20th 2021 - 08:25 UTC
Argentine football teams launch project to help families who lost members to military dictatorships

Argentine football rivals Boca Juniors and River Plate launched a joint project on Friday aimed at giving a voice to the families of club members who went missing during the country’s right-wing dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s.
Saturday, March 20th 2021 - 08:07 UTC
Gang warfare next to Mexico City leaves 13 police officers on patrol massacred

Bullet casings still littered the ground on Friday in Coatepec Harinas, a troubled municipality southwest of Mexico City where 13 police officers on patrol were brutally murdered in an ambush by suspected drug gang members.