International

• Tuesday, August 3rd 2021 - 08:59 UTC

  IMF okays SDRs for countries beleaguered under the covid-19 pandemic

  

  The International Monetary Funda's (IMF) Board of Directors Monday approved the disbursement of SDRs for a total amount of US $ 650,000 million as a relief measure amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

• Tuesday, August 3rd 2021 - 06:32 UTC

  Blue Belt Program launches Training Platform for UK Overseas Territories

  

  The Blue Belt Program has launched a comprehensive online training platform for the UK Overseas Territories. This will provide training and development of skills across a wide range of marine management themes, free of charge.

• Tuesday, August 3rd 2021 - 06:21 UTC

  Brazil's Azul signs a one billion dollars deal with German manufacturer for 220 VTOL taxi aircraft

  

  Azul, Brazil's third-largest airline announced on Monday a one billion dollars accord with German manufacturer Lilium for the purchase of 220 of VTOL electric aircraft scheduled to begin operating in 2025.

• Tuesday, August 3rd 2021 - 06:04 UTC

  Polar vessels RRS Sir David Attenborough and RSV Nuyina meet during sea trials

  

  UK and Australia’s two new polar research ships got together off the coast of Falmouth in July during sea trials in preparation for their first Antarctic missions. The state-of-the-art Falklands flagged RRS Sir David Attenborough and RSV Nuyina will enable scientists to understand changes in our planet’s climate, oceans and marine life.

• Sunday, August 1st 2021 - 11:57 UTC

  China shuts down nuclear power reactor for safety reasons

  

  Chinese authorities have decided to shut down a nuclear power plant in the southern area of Taishan “for maintenance” just one week after its French operator EDF publicly recommended its closure due to a fuel rod problem

• Saturday, July 31st 2021 - 07:29 UTC

  Italy determined to save “Patriarch” a millennial olive tree

  

  Italy is determined to save Patriarch, a millennial olive tree which the forest fires in Sardinia have devoured, but has mobilized tens of experts to try and recover this rare botanic antiquity. Patriarch is a wild olive, with a ten meters circumference trunk, some seventeen meters high which was almost completely destroyed by fire.

• Saturday, July 31st 2021 - 06:56 UTC

  Russia plans to dominate Arctic sea routes with the largest fleet of icebreakers

  

  Hoping to develop the Northern Sea Route across the Arctic into an international shipping lane, Russia is building a group of icebreakers to be powered with liquefied natural gas.

• Friday, July 30th 2021 - 09:56 UTC

  Third dose of Pfizer coming up globally as Delta variant keeps crawling in

  

  The Government of Israel has become the first in the world to decide on the use of a third dose of the Pfizer anticoronavirus vaccine, a move which some other countries are likely to follow suit shortly.

• Friday, July 30th 2021 - 08:37 UTC

  Vatican's major trial for financial crimes involving two cardinals takes off

  

  Cardinal Angelo Becciu is one of ten defendants in what is the Vatican’s largest trial for financial crimes in the modern era. The cardinal is going before the Vatican tribunal for the first time since Pope Francis changed norms in April to allow cardinals and archbishops to be tried by lay judges, in this case on charges of embezzlement and abuse of office.

• Friday, July 30th 2021 - 00:30 UTC

  Falklands signs HPP2 Memorandum of Understanding ahead of August visit by ICRC

  

  This Thursday the Falkland Islands Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between FIG, the UK Government, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).