Latin America

• Wednesday, March 23rd 2016 - 19:21 UTC

  Falklands' Mare harbor will undergo a £19m upgrade to cater for larger vessels

  

  UK Preston based VolkerStevin has won a £19m deal to improve defense infrastructure on the Falkland Islands. VolkerStevin is a contractor providing a wide range of engineering and construction services across a number of market sectors and in this case will upgrade Mare Harbor as part of a design-and-build deal for the UK Defense Infrastructure Organization.

• Wednesday, March 23rd 2016 - 02:50 UTC

  Cuban dissidents meet for almost two hours with Obama, including some critical of US policy

  

  Leading Cuban dissidents, including some who have been critical of president Barack Obama's policy of engaging with the Cuban government, spent nearly two hours on Tuesday discussing human rights with the president at the US embassy. The frank meeting ended only when Obama’s aides ushered him out to reach the Estadio Latinoamericano in time for the first pitch of the Cuban national baseball team's game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

• Wednesday, March 23rd 2016 - 02:14 UTC

  Obama magic: from Cuba next to Castro, calls for an end to US embargo and for free and democratic elections

  

  Crowning a remarkable visit to Cuba, United States President Barack Obama on Tuesday declared an end to the “last remnant of the Cold War in the Americas” and openly urged the Cuban people to pursue a more democratic future for their nation 90 miles from Miami. He also sent a strong message to his critics back in the US.

• Tuesday, March 22nd 2016 - 15:58 UTC

  Unveiling China's power struggle: 'princeling' Xi pushing aside collective leadership

  

  By Gwynne Dyer
  
  
  Opening the National People's Congress in Beijing, Prime Minister Li Keqiang set China's growth target for the coming year at 6.5-7 per cent, the lowest in decades. Only two years ago, he said 7% was the lowest acceptable growth rate, but he has had to eat his words. He really isn't in charge of very much anymore.

• Tuesday, March 22nd 2016 - 02:13 UTC

  Obama scheduled to address the Cuban people on national television and meet dissidents

  

  President Barack Obama in Havana has a busy agenda scheduled for Tuesday which includes a major speech that Cuban officials said would be carried on TV. Before departing for Argentina, Obama has planned to meet with political dissidents and attend a game between Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays and Cuba's beloved national team.

• Tuesday, March 22nd 2016 - 01:40 UTC

  Obama and Castro agree to disagree, but determined to advance in “a new day”

  

  Cuban President Raul Castro directly challenged President Obama on the heels of their historic meeting in Havana on Monday to lift more restrictions on the island and return land used for the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay – as the visiting U.S. president, in turn, chided the Cuban government on democracy and human rights

• Tuesday, March 22nd 2016 - 01:35 UTC

  “Give me the name of a political prisoner, he will be released before tonight” Castro challenges US reporter

  

  Cuban President Raúl Castro sparred with US reporters on Monday over Cuba’s human-rights record, saying at one point that it was not fair to ask about prisoners in general and at another point that he would release by the end of the day anyone named as a political prisoner by a reporter.

• Friday, March 18th 2016 - 03:03 UTC

  It's official: Mercosur and EU will exchange offers for a trade accord on 8 April

  

  Argentina is willing to “make concessions” in order to move forward with a free-trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union (EU), which will likely allow a greater export of agricultural produce, according to Argentina's Trade Secretary Miguel Braun who then reveled that trade offers will be exchanged on April 8.

• Wednesday, March 16th 2016 - 07:24 UTC

  Latin American fiscal weakness and lack of 'tax culture' addressed in ECLAC forum

  

  Evasion is one of the main weaknesses of the tax systems in the Latin America and the Caribbean economies, accounting for 320 billion dollars in 2014 - according to the Fiscal Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean 2016, launched by the UN regional office, ECLAC, in Santiago de Chile.

• Wednesday, March 16th 2016 - 07:18 UTC

  OAS observers to the Dominican Republic general elections on 15 May

  

  The Organization of American States (OAS) and the Government of the Dominican Republic signed formal agreements by which the hemispheric institution will send an Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) to the general elections of May 15, which will be headed by the former President of Colombia, Andrés Pastrana.