Politics

• Tuesday, December 22nd 2015 - 15:29 UTC

  Chile calls for a South American convergence; pledges to bring together Mercosur and Pacific Alliance

  

  Chilean president Michelle Bachelet called for “a convergence among governments” of South America despite the “political and ideological differences”, and anticipated that Chile will strongly promote the rapprochement between Mercosur and the Pacific Alliance.

• Tuesday, December 22nd 2015 - 15:04 UTC

  Paris agreement: a triumph for people and multilateralism

  

  By Ban Ki-Moon - Seventy years ago, the United Nations was created from the ashes of the Second World War. Seven decades later, in Paris, nations have united in the face of another threat ¬ the threat to life as we know it due to a rapidly warming planet.

• Tuesday, December 22nd 2015 - 14:57 UTC

  Israel invites Macri and calls on Argentine judiciary to speed up AMIA investigation

  

  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made an official invitation to Argentine President Mauricio Macri to visit his country, Israel’s ambassador to Buenos Aires Dorit Shavit confirmed.

• Tuesday, December 22nd 2015 - 14:49 UTC

  Brazil's new minister promises the same Levy targets, but fails to convince investors

  

  Brazil's new finance minister sought to reassure investors on Monday as he took the reins of the recession-hit economy, but the Sao Paulo stock market and the Brazilian real both fell. In his first full business day on the job, Finance Minister Nelson Barbosa held a teleconference with international investors, promising to practice the same fiscal discipline as his predecessor, Joaquim Levy.

• Tuesday, December 22nd 2015 - 14:37 UTC

  Rousseff's impeachment support score almost a tie, but 60% prepared to remove speaker Cunha

  

  An estimated 42% of Brazilian Lower House lawmakers (513) are prepared to support the impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff, which is equivalent to 215 votes. But the impeachment motion requires at least 342 votes, two thirds of the total number, which means supporters are still 127 votes short. These numbers belong to a Congress members survey from Datafolha, which was taken between December 7 and 18.

• Tuesday, December 22nd 2015 - 14:31 UTC

  Brazil welcomes and supports Macri's policies regarding the dollar and trade

  

  The Brazilian government has welcomed Argentina's realistic foreign exchange policy unifying the Argentine peso exchange rate, saying the latest economic measures taken by the Mauricio Macri administration will be “very positive” for the commercial relationship between the two countries.

• Monday, December 21st 2015 - 07:59 UTC

  PM Cameron asks for flexibility from EU leaders; confirms 2017 referendum

  

  Britain's David Cameron has urged EU leaders to show “flexibility” and “work together” to help him reduce migration numbers. The PM said “unprecedented” levels of immigration were “undermining support for the European Union” in the UK. Cameron presented his bid to reform the EU for over half-an-hour at dinner at the European Council summit in Brussels.

• Monday, December 21st 2015 - 07:44 UTC

  Chile announces end of airport strike: Lan promises additional flights but does not discard delays

  

  Chile's Defense Minister announced the government and workers tied to the civil aviation authority reached an agreement Sunday, ending a four-day strike that forced airlines to cancel hundreds of flights and left thousands of passengers stranded.

• Monday, December 21st 2015 - 07:37 UTC

  Groundbreaking WTO agreement on elimination of agriculture export subsidies

  

  World Trade Organization, or WTO, reached a groundbreaking accord in Kenya on Saturday which obliges developed countries to eliminate subsidies for their agricultural exports as requested by the least developed nations to protect their farmers.

• Monday, December 21st 2015 - 07:14 UTC

  Spain's left-right draw ends two-party system and marks time of coalitions

  

  Spain is heading for a period of difficult coalition-building after Sunday’s elections in which Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's conservatives came first, but were far short of a majority and with no obvious coalition partner after the centrist Ciudadanos (Citizens) did worse than expected, finishing fourth.