International

• Friday, January 31st 2020 - 08:36 UTC

  Coronavirus: WHO declares global health emergency, praises China for efforts to combat the outbreak

  

  The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday it was declaring the coronavirus outbreak that has killed 200 people in China a global emergency, as cases spread to at least 18 countries.

• Friday, January 31st 2020 - 08:22 UTC

  Brazilian meatpackers believe the coronavirus outbreak in China will help in the long run

  

  Brazil’s largest meatpackers JBS SA and BRF SA said that the coronavirus outbreak could help boost Chinese demand for their products, as it fans concerns about domestic food safety in China. However some also believe sales could be held back by aggressive demands for discounts from Chinese buyers.

• Friday, January 31st 2020 - 08:02 UTC

  Brazil streamlines trade team to ensure gains in the Chinese market

  

  A Mandarin speaking trade specialist has been appointed by the Brazilian Agriculture ministry to boost exports to China, the world’s largest commodities market. Larissa Wachholz, 36, who holds a masters degree from the Renmin University of China, was tapped in December by the Brazilian agriculture ministry to lead a trade unit dedicated to the Asian country, the first of its kind in Brazil.

• Thursday, January 30th 2020 - 20:14 UTC

  Brexit: Falklands makes public UK's “absolute commitment to BOT's safety and prosperity”

  

  EU funding for British Overseas Territories organisations and the impact of Brexit on business and travel are all subjects covered in a Brexit update from the Minister for the Commonwealth, the UN and South Asia this week, according to the transcript published by the Falkland Islands weekly “Penguin News”.

• Thursday, January 30th 2020 - 11:30 UTC

  Brexit approved: What about travel to the UK?

  

  The travel and tourism industry in the UK and the rest of the European Union has been bracing for this moment. The UK formally will leave the European Union (EU) at 23:00 on Friday, 31 January. However, the UK will immediately enter an 11-month transition period. Flights, boats and trains will operate as usual.

• Thursday, January 30th 2020 - 08:59 UTC

  Argentina/Falklands fisheries talks: what happened and what can be expected

  

  Last week there was intense diplomatic activity regarding the Falkland Islands: the meeting of the Fisheries Subcommittee to be held in Buenos Aires on Monday 20 was suspended; the ambassadors before Great Britain and before the international organizations in Geneva, Renato Sersale di Cerisano and Carlos Foradori, were displaced and the secretary of Matters Related to the Falkland Islands, Daniel Filmus, made his presentation in New York in the Decolonization Committee, urging that a negotiation instance be promoted from the UN.

• Thursday, January 30th 2020 - 08:45 UTC

  UK plans to end automatic rights for EU vessels to fish in British waters

  

  Boris Johnson's government plans to reclaim control over British fisheries with a law allowing the U.K. to decide who can fish in its waters and on what terms. The legislation to be published this week will end current automatic rights for European Union vessels to fish in British waters, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said in an emailed statement.

• Thursday, January 30th 2020 - 08:44 UTC

  Margaret Thatcher’s secret dealings with the Argentine military junta that invaded the Falklands

  

  By Grace Livingstone (*) – Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher is often lauded in the UK for standing up to the Argentine military junta during the Falklands War, but declassified British documents show that her government had far more cordial relations with this regime than her wartime rhetoric suggests. The following article was published by Daily Maverick, a South African online newspaper.

• Thursday, January 30th 2020 - 08:35 UTC

  EU Parliament approves UK departure in an emotional session

  

  Squeezed between an argument over what to call its transport strategy and a debate on the coronavirus, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in favor of Britain's orderly departure from the European Union. It was an anti-climactic way to issue the UK's last rites.

• Thursday, January 30th 2020 - 08:33 UTC

  Scientists surprised at unusual temperature at the base of huge glacier in Antarctica

  

  Scientists in Antarctica have recorded, for the first time, unusually warm water beneath a glacier the size of Florida that is already melting and contributing to a rise in sea levels. The researchers, working on the Thwaites Glacier, recorded water temperatures at the base of the ice of more than 2 deg C, above the normal freezing point.