International

• Saturday, March 5th 2022 - 09:59 UTC

  Financial sanctions on Russia expected to hit harder on its ally Venezuela

  

  Measures and sanctions targeting Russia's economy and banking system because of its military invasion of Ukraine, are having a great impact in world trade but the situation is anticipated will be particularly worse for some Latin American countries close to Moscow and the Vladimir Putin regime.

• Saturday, March 5th 2022 - 09:50 UTC

  Covid-19 measures and real estate debt are slowing economic growth, admits Beijing

  

  China finally admits that the economy has suffered because of Covid 19 measures and the crackdown on real estate debt, and is this new “volatile, grave and uncertain” environment, the growth target has been lowered to “around 5,5%”.

• Saturday, March 5th 2022 - 09:48 UTC

  HMS Spey, first Royal Navy to visit Pitcairn Islands since New Year's eve 2018

  

  Royal Navy sailors delivered Covid vaccines to the descendants of the Bounty when patrol ship HMS Spey visited the tiny Pitcairn Islands in the Pacific. The islands – which are in the middle of the South Pacific and home to only around 50 people – are one of Britain’s most isolated Overseas Territories, famous as the last resting place of HMS Bounty and its mutineers.

• Saturday, March 5th 2022 - 09:39 UTC

  Automation in place at BAS Halley VI Research Station

  

  In late February, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Halley VI Research Station closed for the 2021/22 season. The season saw some major developments at the station, including several significant improvements and additions to its automated systems.

• Saturday, March 5th 2022 - 09:28 UTC

  Argentina approves funds for a new polar vessel, to be built with Finnish consultants

  

  The Argentine government has approved the funds for the design and construction of a new polar vessel to complement the activities of ice breaker ARA Almirante Irizar in her task of delivering provisions to the Argentine thirteen Antarctic bases. Works and design will be undertaken by the government-owned shipyard Tandanor and Finland's consulting firm Aker Arctic, with the funds allotted totaling 69 million Argentine pesos ( some US$ 6,5 million) and 7 million Euros.

• Friday, March 4th 2022 - 18:43 UTC

  Gibraltar will place a plaque to commemorate Falklands' war anniversary

  

  The Gibraltar Heritage Trust and the Friends of Gibraltar Society (FOGHS) have filed a planning application to place a plaque to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of the Falkland’s War and Gibraltar’s contribution to the war effort.

• Friday, March 4th 2022 - 18:37 UTC

  Some US$ 400 million of top brand cars sink off the Azores in 3,000 meters deep water

  

  Some US$ 400 million of top brand cars (Porsche, Bentley, Lamborghini) have been definitively lost when the carrier Felicty Ace with 4,000 units from the Volkswagen Group went down, close to the Portuguese Azores islands, nearly two weeks after a fire broke out in the vessel.

• Friday, March 4th 2022 - 12:02 UTC

  Ukrainian invasion triggers dramatic change in German post war policy

  

  By Ed Turner, Reader in Politics, Co-Director, Aston Center for Europe, Aston University - If you’d asked experts just a fortnight ago what the key features of Germany’s approach to foreign and defense policy were, there would have been several strands. Alignment with the west, and of course membership of the EU and Nato would have been a feature.

• Friday, March 4th 2022 - 10:20 UTC

  “Real threat of nuclear danger” after Russian attack: Putin's forces control Europe's largest nuclear power plant

  

  A Russian bombardment hit the Energodar nuclear power plant in the Zaporizhzhia region, Europe's largest in southeastern Ukraine, last night. The attack unleashed a fire that threatens to cause a disaster ten times larger than Chernobyl in 1986, the city's mayor, Dmitry Orlov, reported via his Telegram account. “The reckless actions of President Putin could now directly threaten the safety of all of Europe,” United Kingdom's prime minister, Boris Johnson, warned in a statement.

• Friday, March 4th 2022 - 09:52 UTC

  Brazil's President, British PM in favor of ceasefire in Ukraine

  

  Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Thursday held a telephone conversation during which both heads of government agreed on the need for a ceasefire in Ukraine, it was reported.