A report from the UK Parliament’s foreign affairs committee has called on the government to extend equal marriage to the British Overseas Territories. Although equal marriage was legalized in England and Wales in 2013, and Scotland in 2014, the laws did not automatically extend to the British Overseas Territories, which include Bermuda, the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar.
Standard Chartered is putting aside US$ 900 million for potential fines involving investigations in Britain and the US. The money will cover separate investigations into breaches of US sanctions and foreign exchange trading issues.
The Royal Falkland Islands Police reported on Monday that two representatives from the UK Red Snapper Group, Dave Roberts and Neil Hunter, have arrived in the Islands commissioned by the local government to carry out an independent inspection of the force.
Seventeen Filipino crew members have arrived safe and sound to Montevideo, following the 11 February fire and loss of their Taiwanese flagged jigger in Falkland Islands waters last week. “Jun Rong” had a total crew of 69, and 64 were rescued and taken to the capital of Uruguay where they underwent medical attention, and are waiting to fly back to their homes.
Three people were confirmed this week in the most southerly cathedral in the Anglican Communion – but the cathedral’s bishop, Tim Thornton, had to travel some 8,000 miles from his office in London, England, for the service, reports the Anglican Communion News Service.
A Chinese flagged jigger sank after colliding with a Spanish flagged trawler on Friday morning to the northwest of the Falkland Islands. All thirty crew members have been rescued by other fishing vessels, and are heading for Montevideo, according to the latest reports from the Argentine Coast Guard. The collision involved the jigger V Zhong Yuan Yu 11 and the trawler Pesca Vaqueiro, which went undamaged.
The Illex squid fishery season starts on February 14 and 105 licenses have been offered confirmed Director of Natural Resources John Barton. He added: “Not all vessels which applied received licenses. The number of licenses offered is the same as the last few years.”
The Falkland Islands government has made public the release from the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch referred to an incident involving one of the Islands Air Service Islander, during a regular landing last June.
The minefields around the Falkland Islands capital, Stanley, dating back to the South Atlantic conflict, have remained largely untouched for most of nearly 35 years, due to the restrictions in place around access to the minefields. Over this time, they have become a haven for Falkland’s wildlife.
The impact of Brexit on the Falkland Islands has been raised in the UK’s House of Lords, with Lib Dem Lord Nigel Jones tabling questions to the Foreign Office. Lord Jones asked the government what assessment they had made of the Falklands’ EU exports, and the impact of World Trade Organization tariffs on Islands fisheries.