Politics

• Wednesday, February 24th 2021 - 08:33 UTC

  UK planning to spend billions to prop the economy over the next four months

  

  The United Kingdom is set to spend billions of pounds in extra support for the economy over the next four months, as pandemic curbs pushed unemployment to its highest level of almost five years. The chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak will set out the details in his Mar 3 budget.

• Tuesday, February 23rd 2021 - 13:38 UTC

  Green hydrogen hub planned in northeast Brazil

  

  A US$ 5.4bn green hydrogen hub has been planned in Ceará, northeast Brazil, and most probably the first-of-its-kind in Latin America. Set to be located at the Pecém Industrial and Port Complex (CIPP), 60km from Fortaleza, the hub will be built by Australia’s Enegix Energy.

• Tuesday, February 23rd 2021 - 13:29 UTC

  Halal chicken dispute blocks Brazil/Indonesia free trade talks

  

  Brazil should only begin free trade talks with Indonesia if it adopts recommendations made by a World Trade Organization panel in 2017 after a dispute over halal chicken, Brazil's meat lobby ABPA said in a letter sent to three government ministries.

• Tuesday, February 23rd 2021 - 09:56 UTC

  Uruguay starts inoculation campaign March first with Sinovac and Pfizer vaccines

  

  Uruguay will be receiving the first batch of Covid-19 vaccines next Thursday evening and the official inoculation campaign will begin on Monday March first. Over the weekend those in charge of vaccination will be the first to receive the shots, according to president Luis Lacalle Pou.

• Tuesday, February 23rd 2021 - 09:32 UTC

  Argentina's Antarctica Day celebrates 117 years of Orcadas Station, formally Omond House met station

  

  Argentina on 22 February celebrates Antarctica Day, which commemorates the inauguration of the Meteorology and Magnetic Observatory on Laurie Island, South Orkney Islands, in 1904, which would later become Orcadas Station, a historic milestone which marked the beginning of Argentina's uninterrupted presence in Antarctica.

• Tuesday, February 23rd 2021 - 09:25 UTC

  Maduro complains sanctions are hurting Venezuela's ability to fight the pandemic and consequences

  

  Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro on Monday denounced international sanctions against his country, saying they have limited the government’s ability to fight the health and economic effects of the COVID-19 crisis. European Union foreign ministers on Monday imposed new sanctions on 19 leading Venezuelan officials.

• Tuesday, February 23rd 2021 - 08:53 UTC

  Argentina publishes the VIP list, who received preferential Covid-19 vaccine treatment

  

  The Argentine government has published a list of 70 influential figures, mostly politicians and close friends and family members, who have received preferential vaccine Covid-19 treatment, at the Posadas Hospital in Buenos Aires.

• Tuesday, February 23rd 2021 - 08:45 UTC

  “No chance at the moment for ratification of trade deal with Mercosur”, France

  

  There is no chance at the moment that France will ratify a free-trade deal between the European Union and the Mercosur group, an official at the presidential palace in Paris said on Monday.

• Tuesday, February 23rd 2021 - 08:45 UTC

  Moment of silence and flags at half mast in US to commemorate 500,000 deaths from Covid-19

  

  President Joe Biden led the United States in observing a moment of silence on Monday to commemorate the grim milestone of 500,000 US deaths from Covid-19, urging Americans to set aside partisan differences and fight the pandemic together.

• Tuesday, February 23rd 2021 - 08:37 UTC

  European Union adds 19 senior Venezuelan officials to its list of sanctions

  

  The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions on 19 senior Venezuelan officials, lawmakers and members of the security forces in response to December's legislative election that the bloc said was rigged in favor of President Nicolas Maduro.