United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres has referred the Guyana/Venezuela border controversy to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). In a statement which was published on the UN’s website on Tuesday, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the Secretary-General stated that Mr Guterres has fulfilled the responsibility that has fallen to him within the framework set by his predecessor in December 2016, and has chosen the International Court of Justice as the means to be used for the solution of the controversy.
Daniel Funes de Rioja, Chair of B20, promoted the B20 agenda among British business, chambers, institutions and members of the press at the “B20 Priorities and Challenges” seminar at the Argentine Official Residence in London.
The Falkland Islands Executive Council (its effective Cabinet) agreed late last week a set of budgeting principles for the Government over the coming financial year beginning 1st July 2018. These principles are likely to apply throughout the four year term of the current Legislative Assembly, though will be formally reviewed by the Assembly annually.
President Mauricio Macri said on Monday that government employees in Argentina won't receive pay raises this year as part of a string of measures aimed at cutting spending. Macri also announced the elimination of 1,000 political positions and the firing of family members appointed as advisers by government ministers. The measure is expected to save the government about US$75 million.
Prime minister Theresa May has been warned the UK risks disaster unless she sees off hard Brexiteers in her own party amid continuing Tory divisions over Europe. Ex-minister Anna Soubry said the PM must not let what she said were 35 MPs dictate the terms of the UK's EU exit.
Andrew McCabe, the FBI's No. 2 official whom President Donald Trump publicly criticized for alleged political bias and reportedly wanted fired, stepped down from the bureau Monday, weeks ahead of his retirement. The move followed months of blistering criticism by Trump and his Republican allies that McCabe, 49, was an anti-Trump partisan. Recent reports said McCabe had been pressured to leave the bureau.
The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) and Petrobras announced that the Brazilian company will join the initiative. This commitment is subject to the approval of the OGCI Climate Investments Members’ Agreement by the Petrobras board of directors.
Brazil's popular but scandal-plagued leftist ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva got an unlikely morale boost on Monday from a political nemesis, current President Michel Temer. Lula easily leads the polls heading to October's presidential election but his dream of returning to office was left in doubt last week after an appeals court upheld an earlier corruption conviction against him.
French President Emmanuel Macron called for further European Union sanctions on Venezuela, days after the 28-nation bloc agreed a travel ban and asset freezes on seven senior Venezuelan officials. The West accuses President Nicholas Maduro's government of violating democracy and human rights in the oil-producing nation, which is in the grip of a major economic and social crisis with millions suffering food and medicine shortages.
Brazil’s government will tap the nation’s sovereign fund and recent surpluses to cut debt and avoid breaking budget rules this year, officials said on Monday, after easily meeting the 2017 fiscal target.