International

• Friday, December 31st 2021 - 09:00 UTC

  South Africa loosens up COVID-19 restrictions

  

  South African health authorities have agreed to lift a midnight curfew after the number of omicron cases of COVID-19 was beginning to slow down, it was reported Thursday. South Africa is the country hardest hit by the coronavirus in Africa, with more than 3.4 million cases recorded and 91,000 deaths.

• Friday, December 31st 2021 - 09:00 UTC

  British student makes bad joke about being Maddie McCann

  

  A British student named Harriet Brookes has claimed on social media she was in fact Madeleine McCann, the three-year-old girl who disappeared in May 2007 while on vacation in Portugal with her family.

• Thursday, December 30th 2021 - 20:33 UTC

  Uruguay needs to sell the Graf Spee's eagle to pay those who retrieved it

  

  An Uruguayan Court of Appeals has ruled the Government needs to sell the bronze eagle retrieved from the wreckage of the 3rd Reich's Admiral Graf Spee off the Montevideo coast.

• Thursday, December 30th 2021 - 09:30 UTC

  Ghislaine Maxwell found guilty of sex trafficking and other charges

  

  British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has been found guilty Wednesday by a New York jury of five of the six counts brought against her, after nearly 40 hours of deliberation, it was reported.

• Wednesday, December 29th 2021 - 20:59 UTC

  Russia hopes to start manufacturing Kalashnikov rifles in Venezuela soon

  

  Russian officials Wednesday insisted the launch of the plant to manufacture Kalashnikov rifles in Venezuela had to be postponed during 2021 as a consequence of sanctions imposed by the United States, but the final works have been gaining pace lately thanks to cooperation from local authorities.

• Wednesday, December 29th 2021 - 08:59 UTC

  Four dead after gunmen hit public transport in Haiti

  

  At least four people have been reported dead after a group of unidentified gunmen fired shots on two public transport buses late Monday. Another four people have been reported wounded following the attack in southern Port-au-Prince.

• Tuesday, December 28th 2021 - 20:35 UTC

  Channel Islands UK/France fishing licenses dispute far from over

  

  Secretary of State for European Affairs Clément Beaune said France is considering litigation proceedings against the United Kingdom over the remaining post-Brexit fishing licenses still pending to be awarded in the island of Jersey. The UK/French licenses dispute at the Channel Islands of Jersey and Guernsey, off the French coast, has been ongoing for weeks.

• Tuesday, December 28th 2021 - 20:15 UTC

  Talks over Ukraine crisis to start Jan. 10 in Europe

  

  High-ranking officials from the United States and Russia are to meet in Geneva on Jan. 10 for talks regarding tensions over Ukraine, it was announced. Russia and NATO were also likely to convene on Jan. 12 in Brussels with a broader meeting set for Jan. 13 involving the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which includes the US and its NATO allies, as well as Russia, Ukraine, and other ex-Soviet states.

• Tuesday, December 28th 2021 - 09:43 UTC

  HMS Protector breaks polar record and involved in scientific research on penguins and climate change

  

  Icebreaker HMS Protector has broken a record, becoming the first Royal Navy ship to enter both polar circles within the same year. The Navy's only icebreaker, Protector left Plymouth in August for Antarctica, – her first visit to the frozen continent since 2019.

• Tuesday, December 28th 2021 - 09:35 UTC

  UK Parliament Defense Committee report, “we're going to need a bigger Navy”

  

  Britain’s parliamentary Defense Committee has fired a broadside at the government, raising significant concerns about the future size and capabilities of the Royal Navy in a report released this month” and reported by Defense News.