International

• Friday, February 5th 2021 - 08:21 UTC

  Bank of England tells banks to prepare for negative interest rates

  

  The Bank of England (BOE) told banks to start getting ready for negative interest rates but added that the message shouldn’t be taken as a signal that the policy is imminent. The BOE made the announcement as it held its key rate at a record low of 0.1%.

• Thursday, February 4th 2021 - 23:23 UTC

  Northern Ireland Protocol controversy forces new round of UK/EU talks

  

  The government and the EU have vowed to “work intensively” to quell tensions over post-Brexit checks at Northern Ireland ports. In a joint statement, both sides said talks on Wednesday with Northern Ireland leaders were “constructive”.

• Thursday, February 4th 2021 - 23:06 UTC

  Russia has offered Argentina fighter aircraft and training jets, defense website reports

  

  Russia has again approached the Argentine government to offer defense equipment, including military planes for the air force.

• Thursday, February 4th 2021 - 09:46 UTC

  Argentine president asks Putin to guarantee supply of the Sputnik V vaccine

  

  Supply of the Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine and the possible elaboration of the shots in Argentina were among the issues addressed by Argentine president Alberto Fernandez and Russia's Vladimir Putin during a Tuesday phone conference.

• Thursday, February 4th 2021 - 09:07 UTC

  COVAX publishes first interim vaccine distribution forecast

  

  The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the World Health Organization, as co-leads of the COVAX initiative for equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines, alongside key delivery partner UNICEF, are pleased to publish COVAX’s first interim distribution forecast.

• Thursday, February 4th 2021 - 06:45 UTC

  St Helena prepares to commemorate the bicentennial of Napoleon's death

  

  By Nick Sundin – The United Kingdom commemorated in June 2015 the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo, marking the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte and the end of the Napoleonic Wars. In the months surrounding the bicentenary of 18th June 2015, battlefield visits abounded, with key sites in the vicinity of the battlefield and the town of Waterloo itself seeing large increases in tourism.

• Wednesday, February 3rd 2021 - 09:25 UTC

  Russia's Sputnik V vaccine is 91,6% effective, The Lancet

  

  The Russian Sputnik V vaccine is 91.6% effective against Covid 19 in its symptomatic manifestations, according to the medical journal The Lancet . “The trial results show a strong protective effect consistent across all age groups of participants,” the researchers explain.

• Wednesday, February 3rd 2021 - 08:03 UTC

  Russian dissident sentenced to 3,5 years in jail despite demands from Western countries

  

  Russian dissident Alexei Navalny was sentenced to three and a half years in a penal colony after a Moscow court found him guilty of disobeying the terms of his probation over the 2014 money laundering case. In the Tuesday ruling, however, the court also took into account the time Navalny had spent under house arrest, meaning that the Kremlin critic would spend only two years and eight months behind bars.

• Wednesday, February 3rd 2021 - 08:00 UTC

  Dragui, ex ECB chief invited to form a new government in Italy

  

  Italian President Sergio Mattarella has invited former European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi to talk about forming a new government. Dragui passed the ECB baton to Christine Lagarde in 2019 after an eight-year stint. Draghi is set to meet President Matarella later on Wednesday.

• Wednesday, February 3rd 2021 - 07:00 UTC

  “Captain Tom” leaves us his message, “always remember, tomorrow will be a good day”

  

  Tom Moore, better known as “Captain Tom” died from COVID-19 on Tuesday morning, his family said. The 100-year-old World War II veteran became popular in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.