Politics

• Tuesday, November 1st 2016 - 02:16 UTC

  Brazil municipal elections runoff ratify “non political” candidates

  

  Marcelo Crivella on Sunday won the mayor's race in Rio de Janeiro, beating leftist Marcelo Freixo by a wide margin. Crivella, with the Brazilian Republican party, garnered 59.35% of the votes to 40.65% for Freixo, who is with the Socialism and Freedom Party.

• Tuesday, November 1st 2016 - 02:05 UTC

  Bank of England governor will step down in June 2019, after Brexit is over

  

  Bank of England governor Mark Carney says he will step down in June 2019. It means he will serve one additional year beyond the five-year term he committed to when he took the post, but will still be two years short of the usual eight years governors serve.

• Saturday, October 29th 2016 - 10:46 UTC

  Post Brexit UK economy surprises and grows above expectations

  

  The UK economy grew by 0.5% in the three months after the Brexit vote, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said. The figure for July to September was down from the 0.7% growth recorded in the second quarter of 2016 - the months before Britain voted to leave the European Union.

• Saturday, October 29th 2016 - 10:39 UTC

  UK retains three-year seat at the UN Human Rights Council

  

  The UK on Friday was successful in its bid for election to the UN Human Rights Council for the term January 2017 – December 2019. This follows an eleven month campaign, resulting in a high number of votes from countries around the world.

• Saturday, October 29th 2016 - 10:24 UTC

  Falklands/Malvinas: Ibero-American summit supports Argentine claim and calls for dialogue with UK

  

  Argentine foreign minister Susana Malcorra thanked countries attending the XXV IberoAmerian summit in Colombia for their support to Argentina's sovereignty claim over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands and the compliance of UN resolutions calling for dialogue with the UK. A brief release from the Argentine ministry said “we are grateful for the support we have received from the IberoAmerican space on the Malvinas question”.

• Saturday, October 29th 2016 - 09:54 UTC

  Jorge Batlle, Political Scion Who Led Uruguay, Dies at 88

  

  By Sam Roberts, The New York Times
  
  Jorge Batlle, the brash scion of a political dynasty who had been groomed to be president of Uruguay since he was a teenager, got elected to the post on his fifth try and then audaciously presided over a pro-American administration that survived a brush with bankruptcy, died on Monday in Montevideo. He was 88.

• Thursday, October 27th 2016 - 09:22 UTC

  Milestone for St Helena Airport: certification for aviation safety and security standards

  

  A milestone for St Helena Airport was achieved on Wednesday 26 October 2016, with Air Safety Support International (ASSI) issuing a second Aerodrome Certificate to St Helena Airport - having been satisfied that the Airport infrastructure, aviation security measures and air traffic control service complies with international aviation safety and security standards.

• Thursday, October 27th 2016 - 09:11 UTC

  Russian Task Force passes through Gibraltar Strait; Spain denies refueling at Ceuta

  

  Russia has withdrawn a request to refuel its warships in Ceuta, after Spain became the subject of international criticism, from the NATO secretary general among others. Spain had recently signed statements accusing Russia of war crimes in Syria, where it’s believed the ships are headed.

• Thursday, October 27th 2016 - 08:57 UTC

  Rajoy could become prime minister on Sunday but with a Spanish political system in disarray

  

  Spain’s acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy accepted a mandate from King Felipe to seek parliament’s backing to form a new government and end over ten months of political deadlock, which is expected to happen on Sunday. The Socialist party agreed a last Sunday to abstain in the vote, allowing Rajoy to lead a minority government of his conservative Partido Popular.

• Wednesday, October 26th 2016 - 11:10 UTC

  Chilean conservatives clear win in Punta Arenas, first time in almost thirty years

  

  The Chilean conservative alliance “Chile, let's go” which achieved a sweeping victory in last Sunday's municipal elections, causing a serious disarray to the ruling coalition New Majority with only a year before the 2017 presidential election, also managed to win the Punta Arenas mayoralty for the first time since the end of the Pinochet era.