Politics

• Thursday, October 6th 2016 - 11:50 UTC

  Uribe demands overhaul of a “weak” deal; peace talks resume in Havana

  

  Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said Wednesday peace with the FARC rebels is “close,” but his top opponent demanded an overhaul of a “weak” deal rejected by voters in a referendum.

• Thursday, October 6th 2016 - 05:50 UTC

  UK/Argentina statement refers to all South Atlantic issues “without exclusion” and shared responsibility

  

  Foreign minister Susana Malcorra addressing Argentine Senators described the UK/Argentina statement as “very positive” since UK accepts to dialogue on all South Atlantic issues, “without exclusions”, with shared responsibility in eliminating obstacles to the region's development and in this new positive spirit eventually discuss Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty.

• Wednesday, October 5th 2016 - 19:40 UTC

  FIFA names chief commercial officer to ramp up Russia 2018 Cup sponsorships

  

  Le Floc’h, UEFA’s former marketing director until 2010, leaves Dubai-based Customised Solution FZ to take up the role of FIFA’s chief commercial officer on Oct. 11. The position was created as part of the restructuring of world football’s governing body in the wake of the corruption scandals that brought the federation to its knees.

• Wednesday, October 5th 2016 - 19:02 UTC

  Temer´s major setback: 68% don't trust him and 39% rate his government “bad” or “terrible”

  

  President Michel Temer has not managed to convince Brazilians his government is better than that of his ousted predecessor Dilma Rousseff, and his popularity remains low, according to a poll on Tuesday. Pollster Ibope said the number of people who consider Temer's government “great” or “good” edged up to 14% from 13% in the previous survey in late June, which was conducted six weeks after he replaced Rousseff when her impeachment trial began.

• Wednesday, October 5th 2016 - 17:05 UTC

  Antonio Guterres has Security Council support to become next UN Secretary General

  

  Portugal’s former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres has unofficially been selected as the next U.N. Secretary-General. He is expected to be officially endorsed in the coming days. Following a decisive round of voting Wednesday in the U.N. Security Council, the veteran politician and diplomat prevailed with 13 votes in favor of his candidacy, none objecting to it and two votes of “no opinion”.

• Wednesday, October 5th 2016 - 11:43 UTC

  Brazilians disenchantment with the political system: 17.5% abstention on Sunday's election

  

  Brazilian President Michel Temer said on Monday the high abstention rate as well as the number of blank and spoiled ballots in local elections on the weekend signaled the disillusionment of Brazilians with their political system. Brazil's electoral authority, the TSE, said the abstention rate averaged 17.5% in Sunday's nationwide polls, up from 15.4% in the municipal elections in 2014.

• Wednesday, October 5th 2016 - 11:01 UTC

  London confident of a Brexit deal “suitable and adequate” for Gibraltar and UK

  

  United Kingdom's International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has said he is confident a Brexit deal could be struck that “will get a suitable and adequate response to the problems we face” both for Gibraltar as well as for the UK.

• Wednesday, October 5th 2016 - 06:33 UTC

  Malvinas has “an enormous emotional content” but “my duty is to advance dialogue in all issues”

  

  Foreign minister Susana Malcorra said that the Falklands/Malvinas issue has “an enormous emotional content”, but as her country's main diplomat her duty is to ensure a dialogue that can advance, in the best possible way, on all issues. The minister also described the Mercosur relation with Brazil as “inexorable”, which is beyond ideologies underlining the significance of Brazil's Michel Temer recent visit to Argentina.

• Tuesday, October 4th 2016 - 11:55 UTC

  Macri and Temer reaffirm commitment to strengthen Mercosur

  

  Argentine President Mauricio Macri and his Brazilian counterpart, Michel Temer, agreed on Monday on the need to strengthen Mercosur and to make its rules more “flexible” to ”give a certain autonomy to the (member) states in their international relations.”

• Tuesday, October 4th 2016 - 11:31 UTC

  Argentina claims squid catches in the South Atlantic have plummeted dramatically

  

  The president of Argentina's Chamber of Jiggers Fishing Vessels Ship-owners, Juan Redini, gave some alarming figures on squid catches in the South Atlantic during a presentation at Monday's cephalopod conference held in Vigo, Spain sponsored by FAO and the Conxemar frozen seafood exhibition.