Politics

• Thursday, February 4th 2021 - 09:58 UTC

  Lacalle Pou agreed with Bolsonaro in Brasilia to make Mercosur more flexible

  

  The President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou, traveled overseas for the first time to meet with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, in a meeting in which they discussed the idea of “making Mercosur more flexible” and the possibility of a face-to-face summit with the leaders of Argentina and Paraguay at the end of March.

• 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 - 09:45 UTC

  Falklands announces Covid-19 vaccination program beginning 8 February and for everybody over 50

  

  As the first batch of Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines have arrived in the Falkland Islands, the Falkland Islands Government (FIG) announced it will start the Covid-19 vaccination programme on 8 February. “We plan to administer the first dose for eligible people in a mass vaccination program at the FIDF Hall, with visits out to West Falkland and the Outer Islands. If you live in Camp on East Falkland it would be very helpful if you could travel into Stanley as we will happily vaccinate you whenever you arrive and when the vaccination centre is open,” FIG said on Wednesday in a Press Release.

• Thursday, February 4th 2021 - 09:32 UTC

  Brazil ends the Car Wash anti corruption unit, which sent top politicians and business leaders to jail

  

  Brazil’s Car Wash anti-corruption unit has officially been disbanded putting an end for a team of prosecutors that sent dozens of Brazilian and regional political and business leaders to jail, including several former presidents.

• 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.

• Wednesday, February 3rd 2021 - 09:30 UTC

  Falklands strict conditions to ensure “clean” vessels operate in the 2021 fishing season

  

  The Falkland Islands government issued a release on Tuesday announcing the “clean” conditions vessels entering territorial waters for the 2021 fishing season must meet, basically a minimum of two weeks quarantining at sea, no Covid-19 cases on board, and no crew members with Covid-19 symptoms.

• Wednesday, February 3rd 2021 - 09:20 UTC

  Cristina Kirchner political ally accused of human rights abuses in the province of Formosa

  

  Members of the opposition, international NGO’s and several Catholic and Anglican clerics, have criticized Gildo Insfran, the governor of Formosa, and a close political ally of Cristina Kirchner, for treating those who test positive for the coronavirus and their close contacts in an “inhuman” way, forcing them into public isolation centers for over 20 days.

• 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 - 06:42 UTC

  Impact on Scotland's economy if it breaks away from the UK, LSE report

  

  Reuters – The economy of Scotland will suffer a trade shock two to three times more severe than the impact of Brexit if it leaves the United Kingdom, according to an academic study published this Wednesday.