Politics

• Saturday, March 21st 2020 - 09:25 UTC

  Falklands moves to next COVID-19 response; March 26 referendum postponed for six months

  

  The Falkland Islands Government on Friday moved to the next stage of its response to the global COVID-19 situation. While there are still no confirmed cases on the Islands, the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Rebecca Edwards, says it is now likely COVID-19 is present here.

• Saturday, March 21st 2020 - 09:24 UTC

  IMF's technical guidance on Argentine public debt sustainability

  

  At the request of the Argentine authorities and reflecting close collaboration with them, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released on Friday a technical note prepared by IMF staff on Argentina’s public debt sustainability.

• Saturday, March 21st 2020 - 09:17 UTC

  Cabo Verde closes all borders and restricts flights; Falklands air link disrupted

  

  Authorities of Cape Verde have closed all sea borders and have restricted flights from the UK, US, Canada and a number of other European countries from 18 March. As of 18 March, only a restricted number of flights are allowed into the country to enable visitors to return home. This follows confirmation of a Covid 19 case in the former Portuguese colony.

• Saturday, March 21st 2020 - 09:09 UTC

  London's support for Falklands to deal with the impacts of the pandemic

  

  In a display of support from London, the UK Government announced it is working closely with the Overseas Territories to ensure they receive the help that is necessary to face the challenge and consequences of Covid-19.

• Saturday, March 21st 2020 - 09:02 UTC

  Falklands Sea Lion project: Rockhopper and Premier confident of farm out with US/Israel Navitas

  

  Rockhopper Exploration, a partner in Premier Oil-operated Sea Lion offshore oil project in the Falkland Islands, is confident it will manage to farm-out a share in the project despite the low oil prices and COVID-10 uncertainty. The two companies in January signed non-binding heads of terms with US/Israel Navitas Petroleum, which should lead to Navitas obtaining a 30% interest in the Sea Lion offshore blocks.

• Friday, March 20th 2020 - 09:55 UTC

  Argentina: mandatory quarantine and everybody must remain at home until March 31st

  

  Argentina declared a mandatory preventive social isolation extensive to the whole country beginning midnight Friday until March 31st to mitigate the spread of Covid 19. President Alberto Fernandez made the announcement on national broadcast and standing with him were the leaders of the main political parties.

• Friday, March 20th 2020 - 09:50 UTC

  Falklands and Covid 19: no positive cases identified; GCSE exams suspended; limited medevacs

  

  The Falklands weekly Penguin News this week published a summary of releases, decisions, recommendations and overall strategy of the Islands facing, as in the rest of the world the challenge of Covid 19. The big news is that the Falklands until this week, had no positive tested cases of the virus and that so far there is sufficient health care capacity and expertise to face the situation.

• Friday, March 20th 2020 - 09:47 UTC

  Brazil closing all land borders except with Uruguay, and banning entry from EU and Pacific countries

  

  Brazil on Thursday announced it was closing land borders and prohibiting entry to people from European and many Pacific Asian countries to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, as Mexico and Peru reported their first virus deaths.

• Friday, March 20th 2020 - 09:43 UTC

  Argentina successfully rolls over local bonds in Pesos

  

  Argentina’s economy ministry said on Thursday it had exchanged around 257 billion pesos (US$ 4 billion) in a debt swap for new instruments maturing between 2021-2024, as the government looks to restructure its debt amid a credit crunch.

• Thursday, March 19th 2020 - 08:59 UTC

  Coronavirus: Argentina unveils stimulus package; ample support from the political system to the strategy

  

  Argentina unveiled this week a 700 billion Pesos (some US$10 billion) stimulus package to try to sustain economic activity, avert shortages of food and medical supplies, help companies and protect workers and vulnerable groups affected by the worsening Covid 19 pandemic.