Latin America

Friday, June 14th 2013 - 08:20 UTC
Nicaragua approves transoceanic canal to rival with Panama and to be built by Hong Kong company

The Nicaraguan Congress has approved a proposal to have a canal built linking the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. A Hong Kong-based company has been granted a 50-year concession to build the waterway, which will rival the Panama Canal.
Friday, June 14th 2013 - 03:32 UTC
Menem will appeal sentence to seven years in prison for smuggling weapons

An Argentine court sentenced former President Carlos Menem to seven years in prison for smuggling weapons to Croatia during the Yugoslav civil war of the 1990s, and to Ecuador. Last year Menem was acquitted along with 17 other defendants, but the Cassation Court convicted 12 of them and urged the judges to change the verdicts.
Friday, June 14th 2013 - 03:25 UTC
Structural reform to ensure faster growth remains a main challenge for Latam economies

Finding the optimal balance between macroeconomic policies to stimulate domestic demand in the short term and structural reforms to enable faster growth over the longer run, remain as the main challenges for the Latinamerican economies, according to the latest report from the World Bank.
Friday, June 14th 2013 - 00:16 UTC
Falklands have never been part of Argentina and Islanders overwhelmingly voted to remain British

The following piece was written by Andrew Ayre, British High Commissioner in Georgetown, Guyana and published in StabroekNews from Guyana.
Friday, June 14th 2013 - 00:12 UTC
Chile and UK hold annual round of defense talks in London

Chile and the UK held a round of defense talks in London at the end of May as part of the defense and security agreements between the two countries. The talks took place at the Ministry of Defense and were hosted by the UK Minister for International Security Strategy, Dr. Andrew Murrison.
Thursday, June 13th 2013 - 23:49 UTC
Paraguay and Mexico advancing towards an economic complementation accord

Technical groups from Paraguay and Mexico advanced on Wednesday talks for the creation of an Economic complementation Accord in the framework of the Latam Integration Association, ALADI, which is considered the “step previous to a full free trade treaty”, reported from Asuncion Paraguay’s foreign ministry.
Thursday, June 13th 2013 - 22:22 UTC
Peruvian president Humala wants the US as observer of the Pacific Alliance

Peruvian president Ollanta Humala said he favoured the incorporation of the United States as observer to the Alliance of the Pacific, a free trade, pro-business and open market group made up of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
Wednesday, June 12th 2013 - 07:39 UTC
Obama and Humala working closely on finalizing the Trans Pacific Partnership

President Barack Obama welcomed Peruvian counterpart Ollanta Humala to the White House on Tuesday, in Washington's latest effort to meet a deadline to seal a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Humala praised the Obama administration for its open attitude in addressing strategic issues.
Wednesday, June 12th 2013 - 07:35 UTC
Argentina ratifies primary elections August 11, including for the controversial Counsel of Magistrates

The Argentine government ratified that open and simultaneous primary elections, ahead of October’s mid term election, as established by law in the electoral calendar, will be held next August 11, despite the current wave of injunctions against a reform of the Magistrates Counsel (responsible for naming, sanctioning and firing judges) which contemplates the election of its members by universal suffrage on the same dates.
Wednesday, June 12th 2013 - 07:24 UTC
Venezuela’s electoral council ratifies Maduro victory; Capriles appeals to Supreme Court

Venezuela's National Electoral Council said an audit of the results of presidential elections in April confirmed President Nicolas Maduro did win by 1.5 percentage points, despite opposition claims that the vote was fraudulent.