Latin America in Short: Bitcoin Continues to Fall | CELAC Presents Position at COP27

Among the global news this week, perhaps the most relevant is the announcement of Russia's withdrawal from Kherson. As for macroeconomics, Bitcoin continues to fall and reaches lows of two years ago. COP27, on the other hand, continues and CELAC presents its unified position. Finally, in health news, scientists identify cells that cause relapse in colon cancer. The most relevant news of the week, summarized here.

Russia announces withdrawal from Kherson

In the war in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin suffers a new setback. Apparently, and according to the Russian defense minister (Sergei Shoigu), the Russian forces will leave one of the main cities on Ukrainian territory. As it was known, this is due to the Ukrainian attacks that have been surrounding the urban area. Now the Russian army would resume position far from the Dnieper river bank.

This stronghold, which had been under Russian control, had been illegally annexed several weeks ago. Kherson is the capital and populated center of the entire region that has the same name, and it is a fundamental piece of land, since it unites Russia with the Crimean peninsula, also illegally annexed several years ago.

This is a new setback for Russian interests, which have been abandoning strategic areas, such as the Ukrainian capital, kyiv, and Kharkiv. However, the same Ukrainian authorities ask for restraint when receiving Russian information. Recent US intelligence reports reported that both Russia and Ukraine have reported close to 100,000 soldiers wounded or killed in the conflict. Lately, the Ukrainian counteroffensive seems to have better results on the ground, although Russia has responded with several bombings of cities and essential points.

Bitcoin Seems Bottomless, Drops to Two-Year Lows

The most recognized and valuable cryptocurrency is going through black days (and months). This week it reached a valuation close to $15,000, its lowest value since 2020. This is due to the announcement that Binance will not exit by bailing out its rival FTX. In this way, FTX, one of the main exchanges, is not processing transactions or receiving deposits. The FTC announced that it has a liability of 7,000 million dollars, a figure that will be difficult to collect and that needs to be covered quickly. Otherwise, this could cause the biggest meltdown of the currency.

However, the inflation data in the United States slightly improved the valuation of the electronic currency. After learning that inflation in October was lower than expected, the markets (including Bitcoin) experienced a rebound that favored it to be valued again at more than 17,000 dollars. Most cryptocurrency traders maintain an optimistic but long-term outlook.

CELAC presents a unified position at COP 27

In this world meeting for climate change, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC, presented a document in which it synthesizes a joint position of the governments. Belize, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Granada, Mexico, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic participated in the drafting of said document, in which they emphasize climate financing. They point out that the member countries reiterate their "concern about the poor results in the mobilization and, above all, the provision of robust and coherent climate financing with the transformation needs in developing countries, and the need to fulfill the commitment assumed by developed countries. to mobilize jointly and as soon as possible, 100 billion dollars annually by 2020 to reach a total of 600 billion dollars by 2024”.

Read also: This is How Latin America Positions Itself at COP 27

Scientists identify cells that cause relapses in colon cancer

Members of the Biomedical Research Institute (IRB) of Barcelona published this week, in the journal Nature, the results of an investigation in which they managed to identify the cells that cause metastasis in colon cancer, one of the most common in the world . Likewise, the publication points out the benefits of carrying out an immunotherapy process early, before surgery. This identification of the cells, called HRC, will make it possible to advance in more effective treatments that prevent the recurrence of cancer after tumor removal.