Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet legacy lives heavily in a country which has had a spectacular economic performance since the return of democracy, but remains lame in several social and political issues.
Royal Fleet Auxiliary support ship Wave Knight has helped seize an estimated £6.5 million worth of drugs from traffickers in the Caribbean. In a multi-agency operation involving UK and US assets, the fishing vessel Miss Tiffany was detected and one of Wave Knight’s boats was launched to investigate.
Latin America’s cash transfer programs are a more effective weapon against poverty and social inequality than economic growth alone, according to a study by two local economists.
The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, was received in a private audience by Pope Francis in Vatican City and by the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano, in the framework of a visit to Rome at the invitation of the Italianaeuropei to give a lecture during the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the military coup in Chile.
Argentine Defence Minister Agustín Rossi and his Brazilian counterpart Celso Amorim issued a joint statement with cyber-defence taking the centre stage of the bilateral agenda, during the official ceremony at the Libertador building, seat of the Defence ministry in Buenos Aires.
The opposition Social Democrats has gained slightly in the last pre-election opinion poll by German public broadcaster ARD. Their candidate, Peer Steinbrück has raised some eyebrows by raising one of his own digits in a weekly newspaper supplement.
Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy offered to hold talks with Catalonia, but gave no indication he would allow the wealthy north-western region to vote on independence. The offer of talks was made in a letter sent to the head of Catalonia's regional government, Artur Mas, only three days after hundreds of thousands of Catalans formed a 400-km human chain to push their independence bid and demand a referendum.
The President of the European Commission said this week that Europe “would not hesitate to act” if it found evidence that Spanish border checks in the Gibraltar border breached EU rules on freedom of movement.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has hit back at European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso after he warned the Tories were heading for defeat at the hands of UK Independent party in next year’s European elections.
Britain’s coalition government has confirmed plans to privatize the country’s iconic 497-year-old state-owned postal service, Royal Mail, a move fiercely opposed by postal unions who have already suggested they will hold rolling strikes over the sell-off. The sale would be one of the most significant privatizations in Britain since the 1990s.