Stories for April 2013

Tuesday, April 16th 2013 - 03:32 UTC
Investors dumping precious metals: gold fall the biggest since 1980

Gold futures plunged more than 9% on Monday, marking the biggest one-day percentage fall in 30 years and extending losses over the past two sessions to more than 13%, as the precious metal pushed deeper into bear market territory. The June contract for gold settled at 1,361.10 dollars an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, 140.30 or 9.3% lower than the previous session's close.
Tuesday, April 16th 2013 - 03:30 UTC
Antarctica summer ice melt at it highest level in 1.000 years

The summer ice melt in parts of Antarctica is at its highest level in 1,000 years, Australian and British researchers reported on Monday, adding new evidence of the impact of global warming on sensitive Antarctic glaciers and ice shelves.
Tuesday, April 16th 2013 - 02:43 UTC
Brazil, Unasur full support for Maduro & question Capriles attitude; US and OAS more cautious

Despite opposition protests demanding a ballot recount, congratulations are pouring in for Venezuela’s proclaimed President Nicolas Maduro: Brazil, Argentina, Russia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, Unasur, although the OAS and the US have adopted a more cautious attitude.
Tuesday, April 16th 2013 - 02:39 UTC
Maduro proclaimed elected president; Capriles continues to protest for a recount of ballots

Venezuela's election authority on Monday formally proclaimed Nicolas Maduro the winner of Sunday's presidential vote, despite insistence by the opposition that the ceremony be suspended until a complete recount of votes was carried out given the very tight result.
Monday, April 15th 2013 - 11:36 UTC
Growing frustration and recriminations in Uruguayan cabinet over economic policy

Relations inside the Uruguayan cabinet remain tense with some ministers in non-talking terms even when President Jose Mujica cancelled the Monday full ministerial turnout for three specific areas, security, social affairs and production meetings, which function every two weeks.
Monday, April 15th 2013 - 07:12 UTC
Bishop from Thatcher’s birthplace warns about the cost of the funeral, ‘a mistake’

The Bishop of Grantham has spoken out about the scale and cost of Margaret Thatcher's funeral. The Rt Rev Tim Ellis, from Baroness Thatcher's birthplace in Lincolnshire, has called the millions likely to be spent a “mistake”.
Monday, April 15th 2013 - 06:39 UTC
Capriles won’t accept presidential result until “every vote is recounted, one by one”

Denouncing election irregularities, Venezuelan opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski demanded a recount and said early Monday that he will not recognize the country's presidential results ”until every vote is counted”. His comments came less than an hour after officials said the man former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez handpicked to be his successor had won the country's presidential vote.
Monday, April 15th 2013 - 06:07 UTC
Bad start for Maduro: Capriles showing debilitates him inside the Bolivarian nomenclature

Following five hours of a long recount process Venezuela’s National Electoral Council announced early Monday morning that acting president Nicolas Maduro is the new head of state, having defeated Henrique Capriles by less than a two percentage point difference.
Monday, April 15th 2013 - 03:16 UTC
Controversy over Uruguay’s summer season: supermarket sales were down 15%

The ongoing controversy in Uruguay as to how ‘modest’ or ‘bad’ was this summer’s season has received some facts to support the discussion: supermarket sales in Punta del Este-Maldonado the main resort area along the Atlantic coast contracted 15%, compared to the previous year, while overall in the whole of the country sales were down 2%.
Monday, April 15th 2013 - 03:10 UTC
Mujica envoy to Buenos Aires to try and re-establish ‘normal contacts’ with Cristina Fernandez

Uruguay’s Deputy Foreign minister Roberto Conde is scheduled to travel to Buenos Aires this week as part of President Jose Mujica’s administration efforts to rebuild bilateral relations with Argentina following his ‘coarse, jail-slang’ descriptions of president Cristina Fernandez and her late husband Nestor Kirchner, which were refuted as ‘unacceptable and denigrating”.