
Petrobras, through its logistics subsidiary Transpetro, signed contracts worth R$2.8 billion (around US$570 million) on Tuesday for the construction of five gas carriers, 18 pushboats and 18 barges at shipyards in Rio Grande do Sul, Amazonas and Santa Catarina, as part of a government-backed effort to revive Brazil’s shipbuilding industry and reduce reliance on chartered vessels.

French President Emmanuel Macron told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday that the world is drifting toward a “world without rules,” where the law of “the strongest” prevails—remarks delivered against the backdrop of a deepening transatlantic dispute over Donald Trump’s push to secure control of Greenland and his fresh tariff threats.

US President Donald Trump reignited tensions with European allies on Monday by linking his push for control of Greenland to the Nobel Peace Prize — arguing that, because he did not receive the award, he no longer feels “obliged to think only about peace.” In a message addressed to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre —later circulated to European embassies in Washington— Trump pivoted from the Nobel grievance to Greenland, saying the world would not be safe without “total and absolute” US control of the Arctic island.

Iran warned it would deliver an “appropriate response” after the Argentine government designated the Quds Force—an external-operations unit within Iran’s Revolutionary Guards—as a “terrorist organization” and added it, along with 13 linked individuals, to Argentina’s Public Registry of Persons and Entities Connected to Terrorism and its Financing (RePET).

By John Hawkins (*) - Central bankers from around the world have issued a joint statement of support for US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, as he faces a criminal probe on top of mounting pressure from US President Donald Trump to resign early.

Two-hundred and fifty years ago Captain James Cook landed at Possession Bay and took possession of South Georgia, in the name of King George III and his heirs.

2025 saw an increase in the number of ‘hits’ on the website of the Dictionary of Falklands Biography, DBF. The total number of hits was 27,025, a substantial increase on the previous year’s figure of 22,257.

Uruguayan President Yamandú Orsi expressed disapproval over the absence of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during the signing of the landmark free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Mercosur bloc, held in Asunción on January 17.

The free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the Mercosur bloc (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) could help turn South America into a major player in the global market for critical minerals and rare earths, EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said in an interview with EFE from Asunción.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reaffirmed its projections for Argentina’s economy, forecasting growth of 4% in both 2026 and 2027, unchanged from its previous estimates published in October. The figures appear in the latest update of the World Economic Outlook (WEO), presented on Monday in Brussels.