Politics

• Friday, February 5th 2016 - 07:35 UTC

  Argentina's main opposition force will attempt unity with party elections on May 8

  

  Argentina's main political force, Peronism, under the Justicialista party banner, announced that the party's elections will be held on 8 May, while the members of the electoral board set to oversee the election would be chosen during a meeting in Buenos Aires on February 24.

• Friday, February 5th 2016 - 07:31 UTC

  TPP Agreement bad for democracy, rights, public services and health, says ITUC

  

  The ITUC has called the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) a major setback for employment and workers’ rights prospects, and signaled the determination of unions in TPP countries to oppose it. After five years of secret negotiations, twelve Asia/Pacific-Rim Ministers signed the agreement today in Auckland, New Zealand, amid strong criticism from trade unions and other civil society organisations.

• Friday, February 5th 2016 - 07:17 UTC

  Lula da Silva included in criminal investigation involving bribes

  

  Brazil's federal police have included former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in an investigation into the possible use of bribes to influence the passage of legislation benefiting the auto sector, a court document showed on Thursday.

• Friday, February 5th 2016 - 06:40 UTC

  Argentine government creates registry to weed out hooligans from football

  

  The Argentine government officially unveiled the National Registry for Admission to Football Matches. The measure was announced by the Security Ministry, which released a statement saying they “needed the cooperation from the clubs affiliated with the Argentine Football Association (AFA), who will bring us the names of the people who are not allowed to attend soccer matches.”

• Friday, February 5th 2016 - 06:27 UTC

  Chilean government condemns vandalism by fans at Malvinas Memorial in Rosario

  

  The Chilean ambassador in Buenos Aires met with Malvinas war veterans and the head of the National Monument to the Flag in the city of Rosario, and delivered an official letter condemning the violent actions and destruction by fans from the University of Chile football team against a Memorial to the Malvinas fallen.

• Thursday, February 4th 2016 - 07:59 UTC

  Santos at the White House will ask for help to implement Colombia's peace accord

  

  Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos has said he will ask President Obama to help implement a peace accord that his government expects to sign with the Farc rebel group next month. The two presidents will meet at the White House on Thursday.

• Thursday, February 4th 2016 - 07:45 UTC

  Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal signed by 12 member nations in New Zealand

  

  The Trans Pacific Partnership, one of the biggest multinational trade deals ever, has been signed by ministers from its 12 member nations in New Zealand. The ceremony in Auckland brings the huge trade pact, which has been five years in the making, another step towards to becoming a reality. But the TPP continues to face opposition.

• Thursday, February 4th 2016 - 07:29 UTC

  “Attacks on Islam are attacks on all religions” says Obama at Maryland mosque

  

  President Barack Obama visited an American mosque on Wednesday and declared that attacks on Islam were an attack on all religions, in an effort to counter rhetoric from Donald Trump and other Republican presidential candidates that has alienated Muslims.

• Thursday, February 4th 2016 - 07:21 UTC

  Kirchnerite opposition splits; Macri now has the main block in the Lower House

  

  Argentina's main opposition party suffered a split on Wednesday after an estimated fifteen of its lawmakers quit, party leaders admitted, handing a boost to newly-elected President Mauricio Macri's hopes of pushing his legislative agenda through Congress. In effect, Macri's political alliance in the Lower House becomes the majority grouping.

• Wednesday, February 3rd 2016 - 07:23 UTC

  Argentina agrees to pay Italian bond holders including “a reasonable interest”

  

  Argentina announced Tuesday that it reached a $900 million preliminary accord to settle its pending debt with 50,000 Italian holders of defaulted Argentine government bonds. Finance minister Alfonso Prat-Gay said that the agreement with Italian bondholders includes the Argentine government's acknowledgement of the debt “and reasonable interest”.