Politics

• Tuesday, May 16th 2017 - 10:34 UTC

  China convenes 29 world leaders to launch its Silk Road plan to forge peace and free trade

  

  Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged US$124 billion for his ambitious new Silk Road plan to forge a path of peace, inclusiveness and free trade, and called for the abandonment of old models based on rivalry and diplomatic power games.

• Tuesday, May 16th 2017 - 10:04 UTC

  Brazil states RAF Hercules flights from or to Falklands are “humanitarian motivated”

  

  The Brazilian government discards any “irregularities” in allowing British military aircraft, flying to or from the Falkland Islands, landing in its airports since the authorizations are humanitarian motivated, revealed a source from the Brazilian government to the Argentine news agency, Telam.

• Tuesday, May 16th 2017 - 08:13 UTC

  Temer admits not having the votes to pass the pension reform bill: investors edgy

  

  Brazilian President Michel Temer acknowledged on Monday that he may not have the votes at present to pass his pension reform bill in the lower house of Congress, and the key measure for fiscal savings might not face a floor vote until late May.

• Tuesday, May 16th 2017 - 08:05 UTC

  Majority of US citizens want an “independent investigation” into Trump-Russia links, shows Reuters/Ipsos poll

  

  A majority of US citizens including a growing number of Republicans, want to see an “independent investigation” sort out any connections between Russia and President Donald Trump during the 2016 election campaign, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Monday.

• Tuesday, May 16th 2017 - 07:52 UTC

  Generational shift in France: Macron names a Conservative, 46, prime minister

  

  In his first major decision, newly inaugurated French President Emmanuel Macron has named conservative lawmaker Edouard Philippe as prime minister. Philippe has been the mayor of Le Havre, a port city in the Normandy region of northern France, since 2010 and became a member of parliament for the region two years later.

• Tuesday, May 16th 2017 - 07:28 UTC

  Mexican leading investigative journalist in combating drug traffickers is shot dead

  

  Award-winning Mexican journalist Javier Valdez has been shot dead in the north-western state of Sinaloa. He was killed when unidentified attackers opened fire on his car in the city of Culiacan where Valdez was working, the RioDoce website reports.

• Tuesday, May 16th 2017 - 07:13 UTC

  Macron and Merkel's “joint conviction” of the need to “deepen the European Union”

  

  France's new president, Emmanuel Macron, has called for a “historic reconstruction” of Europe, saying it is “the only reaction” to fight populism. Speaking in Berlin on the first full day of his presidency, he was joined by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said the pair had a “joint conviction” that they needed to “deepen the European Union”.

• Monday, May 15th 2017 - 20:19 UTC

  Venezuelans Mothers Day appeal to the military: lay down your weapons and help remove Maduro

  

  Venezuela's opposition movement on Sunday called on the military to enter dialogue with other representative of society amid a wave of near daily protests that so far have left almost fifty people killed. After pledging loyalty to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro last year, the armed forces have effectively enforced a violent policy to curb opposition demonstrations.

• Monday, May 15th 2017 - 11:11 UTC

  Macri begins official visit to China and attends development forum with 27 world leaders

  

  Argentine president Mauricio Macri, First Lady Juliana Awada, and members of the official delegation were received on Sunday by Chinese president Xi Jinping and his wife at the Great Palace of the People, where they were hosted together with 27 world leaders in the framework of the One Belt, One Road, OBOR, Beijing's ambitious international cooperation forum.

• Monday, May 15th 2017 - 07:46 UTC

  EU prepared to block Brexit talks unless citizenship measures are “reasonable”

  

  The European Parliament could seek to block talks on a UK-EU trade deal unless guarantees are put in place for the rights of citizens, the MEP in charge of the process has indicated. Guy Verhofstadt, the parliament’s chief Brexit negotiator, said MEPs would have to decide whether sufficient progress had been made on issues including EU citizens’ rights in the UK and those of British expatriates on the continent before talks on Britain’s future relationship with Brussels could proceed.