International

• Tuesday, December 7th 2021 - 09:45 UTC

  Expedition cruise Ultramarine anchored in Ushuaia bay finally cleared to sail

  

  The expedition cruise Ultramarine from Quark Expeditions, anchored in Ushuaia Bay, extreme south of Argentina, finally was liberated after Covid-19 testing among the crew proved negative. The crew was never allowed ashore and had to wait until the Covid-19 outbreak was considered under control.

• Tuesday, December 7th 2021 - 09:30 UTC

  WTO urges members to end fisheries subsidies discussions by next February/March

  

  World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala urged delegation heads to redouble their efforts to bridge differences on the ongoing discussions on curbing harmful fisheries subsidies by the end of February 2022. Discussions were suspended because of the Covid-19 Omicron variant

• Tuesday, December 7th 2021 - 09:20 UTC

  Omicron variant dilemma, “nobody is safe until everybody is safe”.

  

  By Gwynne Dyer – The new Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus was discovered last week by scientists in South Africa and Botswana, the only countries in southern Africa that have the skills and resources to detect a new variant.

• Tuesday, December 7th 2021 - 09:13 UTC

  Foreign travellers will need Health Pass to enter Colombia

  

  Colombia is to require foreign travellers to submit proof of vaccination against COVID-19 attesting to a full treatment, President Iván Duque announced Monday.

• Tuesday, December 7th 2021 - 09:06 UTC

  Argentina to head UN Human Rights Council throughout 2022

  

  Argentina has been voted unanimously to preside over the United Nations Human Rights Council, in what has been perceived as a diplomatic achievement of President Alberto Fernández's administration.

• Tuesday, December 7th 2021 - 09:00 UTC

  World Bank-UNESCO-UNICEF report lays out the magnitude of the education crisis and costs for future generations

  

  This generation of students now risks losing US$ 17 trillion in lifetime earnings in present value, or about 14% of today’s global GDP, as a result of COVID-19 pandemic-related school closures, according to a new report published today by the World Bank, UNESCO, and UNICEF. The new projection reveals that the impact is more severe than previously thought, and far exceeds the US$ 10 trillion estimates released in 2020.

• Tuesday, December 7th 2021 - 08:43 UTC

  WHO advises against use of convalescent plasma for Covid-19

  

  Convalescent plasma (a transfusion of blood plasma from someone who has recovered from covid-19) is not recommended for patients with covid-19, says a WHO Guideline Development Group of international experts in The BMJ today.

• Tuesday, December 7th 2021 - 08:26 UTC

  The US to boycott Winter Olympic Games scheduled for Beijing next year

  

  The US Government of President Joseph Biden has announced Monday it would boycott the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympic Games to be staged in Beijing, China, starting Feb. 4, as a response to human rights abuses in the host nation.

• Monday, December 6th 2021 - 21:18 UTC

  Argentina banks on the bright side of Brexit

  

  According to the Buenos Aires daily El Cronista, Argentina has largely benefitted from the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union, as more products from the South American country were in demand.

• Monday, December 6th 2021 - 09:34 UTC

  Sustainability: Uruguay the example to follow, World Bank says

  

  Anna Wellenstein, Director of the World Bank's Latin America and the Caribbean, Sustainable Development Group, has said Uruguay was an example of turning its productions towards a market that will seek environmental guidelines met.