
REUTERS – German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke on Monday to US president Joe Biden to congratulate him and agreed on closer cooperation in tackling world challenges, particularly the pandemic, defense, and trade.

The next stage of building a scientific support facility in Antarctica has started and to avoid the risk of introducing COVID-19 to the British Antarctic Survey’s (BAS) Rothera Research Station, the construction team spent two weeks in quarantine and had three Covid-19 tests prior to making the 11,000-kilometer voyage by ship.

Global foreign direct investment (FDI) collapsed in 2020, falling 42% from US$ 1.5 trillion in 2019 to an estimated US$ 859 billion, according to a UNCTAD Investment Trends Monitor released on Sunday.

Two earthquakes of 7 and 5.9 degrees of magnitude on the Ritcher scale shook Chile on Saturday, just thirty minutes apart, at Antarctica and in the center of Chile, with Chilean authorities calling to evacuate the coastal areas due to the risk of a tsunami, as a consequence of confusing alert messages.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke on Saturday evening to Joe Biden, President of the United States, whom he congratulated on his inauguration. The two leaders looked forward to deepening the close alliance between the two countries.

Uruguayan president Luis Lacalle Pou announced on Friday that a deal for the purchase of Pfizer/BioNTech and China's Sinovac anti Covid-19 vaccines has been reached. No further details were advanced, only that the president will announce details of the operation Saturday midday.

Germany said that its position on the Falkland Islands dispute has not changed, following claims by Argentina that Lufthansa's request for two flights to the Islands, in support of a polar research expedition, implied recognition of the archipelago as Argentine territory.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the COVAX scheme had reached a deal with vaccine maker Pfizer-BioNTech for 40 million doses for poorer countries.

By Gwynne Dyer – When defeated armies are retreating, they always lay mines behind them if they have time. The mines' slow pursuit, they may inflict casualties on the victors, and they give the losers something purposeful to do amidst panic and despair. That’s what Mike Pompeo has been doing just before time was called on his ideologically driven term as United States Secretary of State.

Argentina is rejoicing because Germany's flag carrier Lufthansa formally requested the Civil Aviation National Administration and the Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic Islands provincial government over flight and landing authorization for two charter flights to the Malvinas Islands from Hamburg.