Politics

• Saturday, May 26th 2018 - 08:16 UTC

  Colombia invited to join OECD; third Latin American member with Mexico and Chile

  

  The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) announced on Friday that Colombia would be officially invited to join the group. The Paris-based economic organization was founded in 1961 and has traditionally included industrialized nations, though in recent years it has extended its membership to emerging economies.

• Saturday, May 26th 2018 - 07:58 UTC

  South Korea and Mercosur agree in Seoul to begin formal negotiations for a free trade deal

  

  South Korea and Mercosur agreed to begin formal negotiations for a trade deal in the latter half of this year to facilitate commerce and investment, the Seoul government said on Friday. South Korea signed an agreement to launch the negotiations with four Mercosur member states -- Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay -- during a ceremony held in Seoul. Mercosur expelled Venezuela in 2016 for failing to meet its basic standards.

• Friday, May 25th 2018 - 09:00 UTC

  Nicaragua peace talks collapse and clashes resume : two dead and 50 injured

  

  At least two people were killed and 50 wounded as clashes flared in Nicaragua after peace talks between the government and opposition collapsed, the Red Cross and victims' relatives said on Thursday.

• Friday, May 25th 2018 - 08:50 UTC

  Brazil truckers strike: Government says a 15-day truce had been reached

  

  Brazil's government said late Thursday that a deal had been reached with truckers to suspend a four-day-old strike that caused fuel shortages, cut into food deliveries, backed up exports and threatened airline flights.

• Friday, May 25th 2018 - 08:23 UTC

  Blow to Rajoy: 29 members of the ruling party convicted for corruption

  

  A Spanish court has issued hefty prison sentences for politicians and business people involved in a kickbacks-for-contracts scheme that helped fund Spain’s governing party. The National Court’s decision is a major blow for Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s Partido Popular, fined 245,000 Euros because it benefited from the illegal scheme that was in place between 1999 and 2005.

• Friday, May 25th 2018 - 08:15 UTC

  Japan encouraging Central and South America to join the TPP trade pact

  

  Japan is encouraging more countries from Central and South America to join the reworked Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, in hopes of both capturing the potential of these markets and pressuring the U.S. to return to a framework it left last year.

• Friday, May 25th 2018 - 07:47 UTC

  Falkland Islands fisheries review recommends ITQs for Illex squid

  

  Moving the Illex fishery into the ITQ system and improved catch verification requirements are among the recommendations made by an independent review of the Individual Transferable Quota (ITQ) system published by the Falkland Islands government, FIG, this week.

• Thursday, May 24th 2018 - 08:35 UTC

  Six out of ten voters said UK's exit from EU increased prospect of splitting up

  

  Most voters are in favor of the Union but believe Brexit has made the break-up of the United Kingdom more likely, polling has found. In England, 68% of adults backed the UK status quo followed by 66% in Wales, 59% in Northern Ireland and 52% in Scotland, according to the ICM research. But across the four nations, up to six out of 10 voters said Britain’s exit from the European Union had increased the prospect of the UK splitting up.

• Thursday, May 24th 2018 - 07:55 UTC

  Boris Johnson highlights Chile as one of the great global countries for free trade

  

  British Foreign Secretary highlighted the close political links with Chile and commercial opportunities for UK companies during his brief visit to the country, as part of a more ambitious tour of other South American countries, Peru and Argentina.

• Thursday, May 24th 2018 - 07:32 UTC

  China expected to import record volumes of US oil and soy, to help ease trade tensions with the US

  

  China will import record volumes of U.S. oil and is likely to ship more U.S. soy after Beijing signaled to state-run refiners and grains purchasers they should buy more to help ease tensions between the two top economies, trade sources said on Wednesday.