Stories for December 2019

Friday, December 6th 2019 - 09:47 UTC
Fernandez sends friendly message to Bolsonaro; confirms Solá as foreign minister

Argentine president elect Alberto Fernandez confirmed Felipe Solá as his foreign minister and Daniel Scioli as ambassador in Brazil, following a meeting with a delegation of Brazilian lawmakers at his Buenos Aires headquarters. The Brazilian delegation was headed by the Lower House president, Rodrigo Maia.
Friday, December 6th 2019 - 09:40 UTC
Falklands' fishing companies question government's decision to increase toothfish and calamari fishery fees

Falkland Islands fishing company representatives led by Stuart Wallace of Fortuna Ltd condemned the 50% rise in toothfish and calamari fishery fees at the Fisheries Committee meeting.
Friday, December 6th 2019 - 09:10 UTC
Argentina: Surveys indicate 40.8% of the population lives below the poverty line

A third of Argentine homes and 40.8% of people were below the poverty line at the end of the third quarter according to the Social Debt Observatory from the Argentine Catholic University, UCA, which regularly releases the data.
Friday, December 6th 2019 - 09:05 UTC
Argentine congress plans to have 2020 Budget Bill approved before end of the year

The recently sworn-in Argentine Lower House of Congress expects to sanction the Budget 2020 Bill during a special session next 18 December, giving the government of president-elect Alberto Fernandez sufficient margin to address the current situation and put Argentina back on track with an idea of revenue and commitments.
Friday, December 6th 2019 - 08:55 UTC
French general strike against planned reform of pensions enters second day

A strike that crippled public transport and closed schools across France entered a second day on Friday, with trade unions saying they planned to keep going until President Emmanuel Macron backs down from a planned reform of pensions.
Friday, December 6th 2019 - 08:52 UTC
Brazilian government optimistic about reforms and the economy's performance forecast

The Brazilian government’s commitment to getting public finances in order and maintaining strict fiscal discipline will lead to the country’s sovereign credit rating being upgraded, Treasury Secretary Mansueto Almeida said on Thursday.
Friday, December 6th 2019 - 08:44 UTC
OAS confirms the Bolivian presidential election was rigged: “overwhelming evidence of malicious operations”

The Americas regional forum, Organization of American States, OAS, published details of ”deliberate“ and ”malicious” steps to rig Bolivia's October election in favor of then-President Evo Morales, who has resigned and left the country in the midst of a political uprising.
Thursday, December 5th 2019 - 10:58 UTC
Discovery of WW1 German Battlecruiser SMS Scharnhorst in Falklands waters

The Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust is pleased to announce that the wreck of SMS Scharnhorst has been located off the Falkland Islands. The Scharnhorst, an armoured battle-cruiser and the flagship of Admiral Maximilian Graf von Spee’s East Asia Squadron, was sunk on 8 December 1914 during the Battle of the Falkland Islands, a crucial naval battle in the early days of the First World War.
Thursday, December 5th 2019 - 09:59 UTC
Suddenly out of the deep sea gloom emerged the mighty Scharnhorst with her great guns poking in every direction

Mensun Bound, the leader of the mission which discovered the flagship of Admiral Graf von Spee's squadron, was born in the Falkland Islands and since a child has been obsessed with the sea, its mysteries, myths and the great Battle of the Falkland Islands, a decisive naval action at the start of the Great War of 1914.
Thursday, December 5th 2019 - 09:55 UTC
Trump's tariffs puts Brazil's Bolsonaro and Argentine president elect Fernandez in the same boat

The South American four-nation trade bloc Mercosur began a tense meeting on Wednesday reeling from US steel and aluminium tariffs and a spat between its two biggest members. Foreign ministers of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay opened the two-day meeting in the southern Brazilian town of Bento Goncalves, paving the way for a head of state summit on Thursday.