The first female commander of a major Royal Navy warship is understood to have left her vessel after allegations of an affair with one of her officers. Cdr Sarah West, 42, was coming to the end of a seven-month deployment in the Atlantic on board the Type 23 frigate HMS Portland.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez will attend this Tuesday the leaders' summit of Mercosur in Caracas, Venezuela. The president will travel to Caracas in order to participate in a congress originally scheduled for December 17, but which suffered several postponements.
Argentine Agriculture Minister Carlos Casamiquela and Federal Planning chief Julio De Vido rebuffed the criticism of the head of the Argentine Rural Society (SRA), Luis Etchevehere, who at the opening of the Palermo livestock show accused the government of President Cristina Fernandez of being “ignorant and arrogant”.
The New York Times called for the legalization of marijuana, in a bold editorial comparing the federal ban on cannabis to Prohibition. The prestigious publication said pot laws disproportionately impact young black men and that addiction and dependence are “relatively minor problems” -- especially when compared with alcohol and tobacco.
Brazil’s Jewish community apologized to the administration of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff for statements by the spokesman of Israel’s foreign ministry after Brazil recalled its envoy over the Gaza conflict.
Deutsche Bank, HSBC and Bank of Nova Scotia have been accused of attempting to rig the price of silver, in a lawsuit filed in the US. The plaintiff alleges the banks, which set the price of silver each day, abused their position in the market.
Venezuela's state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) is considering offers to sell its U.S. downstream subsidiary Citgo, industry research group Argus Media reported on its website last Friday.
The Dutch government released a former Venezuelan general who was detained on US drug charges when he arrived in Aruba to serve as his country's consul on the Dutch Caribbean island, sending him home Sunday night and defusing a diplomatic fight with its neighbor.
The private sectors from Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia agreed to form a business lobby, Urupabol, with the purpose of actively combating protectionist policies and other obstacles implemented inside Mercosur, mainly by senior members Argentina and Brazil.