International

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 07:19 UTC

  Repsol expands 70% a natural gas processing plant capacity in Bolivia

  

  Bolivian President Evo Morales and the chairman and CEO of Spanish energy major Repsol, Antonio Brufau, inaugurated the newly expanded Margarita natural gas processing plant, with a capacity increased of nearly 70%.

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 06:58 UTC

  Spain proposes sharing embassies and consulates with Pacific Alliance countries

  

  Spain has proposed sharing embassies, consulates and trade offices with its Latinamerican associate-members of the Pacific Alliance, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico. Foreign minister Jose Manuel García Margallo said that the idea of sharing some embassies and consulates already is operational in the European Union.

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 06:39 UTC

  Berlusconi U turn saves Italian coalition but could mark the beginning of his demise

  

  Silvio Berlusconi backed away from his threat to topple Italy’s coalition government in a humiliating political climb down on Wednesday that could fatally weaken his 20-year grip on Italian politics. The billionaire former prime minister was forced into the last minute U-turn by a revolt that threatened to shatter his conservative party.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 22:50 UTC

  Rousseff names top military officer as head of the Olympic Public Authority

  

  President Dilma Rousseff nominated a senior army officer to fill one of the top roles in organizing the 2016 summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Major General Fernando Azevedo e Silva’s appointment to head the Olympic Public Authority, which coordinates the work of state and local governments, has gone to Brazil’s senate to be ratified, the nation’s official gazette said.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 16:47 UTC

  Minister Swire opens the British embassy in Asuncion after a break of eight years

  

  Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire formally opened on Wednesday the British Embassy in Asuncion, Paraguay which will be headed by Ambassador Jeremy Hobbs. Accompanied by Paraguayan Foreign Minister Eladio Loizaga, he hailed the opening a symbol of the UK’s continued engagement in Latin America.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 15:46 UTC

  Vatican bank opens its accounts for the first time, and there are surprises

  

  In a bid for transparency and reform, the Vatican bank openly published a financial report for the first time on Tuesday. But the report came amid new accounts of vague withdrawals and deposits made to and by the organization.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 10:04 UTC

  Francis calls for transparency and says too many popes had been ‘narcissists’

  

  Pope Francis began landmark meetings this week to reform the Vatican, promising to do all he could to change the mentality of an institution he said was too focused on its own interests. Francis and eight cardinals from around the world are holding three days of closed-door meetings to discuss the Vatican's troubled administration and to map out possible changes in the worldwide Church.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 08:16 UTC

  Argentina asks Washington to include AMIA bombing case in US/Iran agenda

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernández has instructed Ambassador Cecilia Nahón in Washington to formally ask the White House and the State Department to include the AMIA case in their meeting agenda with Iran.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 08:12 UTC

  UN recommends Spain to overturn 1977 amnesty law that ‘forgets’ Franco’s era crimes

  

  United Nations has called for Spain to overturn a 1977 amnesty law that pardons crimes committed during the 36-year dictatorship of General Francisco Franco. Hundreds of thousands of people died or disappeared during Spain's civil war and subsequent dictatorship, but the crimes have been shielded under an amnesty law passed two years after Franco's death, protecting former members of the regime.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 08:06 UTC

  Britain’s Tories will stand by the people of Gibraltar “no matter what” pledges Hague

  

  Britain’s Conservative Party will stand by the people of Gibraltar “no matter what”. That was the pledge made by Foreign Secretary William Hague on Sunday night as he addressed the Gibraltar reception at the Conservative Conference in Manchester.