Politics

• Thursday, April 9th 2015 - 03:28 UTC

  Brazilian ruling coalition members sign letter pledging to support austerity package

  

  Brazilian congressional leaders within President Dilma Rousseff's coalition signed a joint letter on Wednesday pledging to support her austerity package, an unexpected sign that the ties with her unruly coalition are improving. The deal was brokered by Vice President Michel Temer on his first day as the official go-between tasked with mending Rousseff's tense relations with coalition lawmakers.

• Thursday, April 9th 2015 - 00:54 UTC

  Pope Francis will meet President Cristina Fernández for the fifth time, next June

  

  Pope Francis and Argentine president Cristina Fernández will meet for the fifth time at the Vatican in June, according to government sources. The head of state will visit the pontiff between June 7 and 9, two months before the PASO primaries and ahead of national elections that are to be held in October. It will be their fifth meeting since Francis was elected and the first one under the administration of Eduardo Valdés, the Argentine Ambassador to the Vatican, appointed in December.

• Wednesday, April 8th 2015 - 17:40 UTC

  Obama/Castro in Panama: 'grip and grin” photo or historic head-to-head sit down?

  

  President Barack Obama will attend a Summit of the Americas in Panama this week, a gathering that could see the first substantive meeting between US and Cuban leaders in half a century.

• Wednesday, April 8th 2015 - 17:11 UTC

  Bachelet denies any idea of stepping down, because of her family's corruption scandal

  

  “No way, I've never thought of resigning or stepping down” said emphatically Chilean president Michelle Bachelet on Wednesday, following a barrage of media rumors which echoed in the social networks during Holy Week, which in South America in a long weekend holiday.

• Wednesday, April 8th 2015 - 16:12 UTC

  Falklands, South Atlantic islands, Antarctica included in new Tierra del Fuego official map

  

  Argentina's most southern province identified as Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and South Atlantic islands is redesigning its internal political limits with the purpose of “contributing to the territorial sovereignty of the Nation”, according to a bill sent to the provincial legislative by governor Fabiana Ríos and drafted with help from the Malvinas Question Advisory Observatory.

• Wednesday, April 8th 2015 - 14:44 UTC

  Argentina's few friends in the world; China and Russia, Cristina Fernandez foreign policy priorities

  

  Argentina's foreign policy, under president Cristina Fernández, has new priorities, China and Russia, according to columnist Joaquin Morales Solá, one of the outstanding political analysts of Argentina. This means a radical change from democratic Argentina (since 1983) when the interests of the country were targeted in Latin America, particularly Brazil, Europe and the US, although the importance of the short list varied according to the different elected presidents.

• Tuesday, April 7th 2015 - 09:15 UTC

  Argentine farmers defy Cristina Fernandez with ‘silo-bags’ to hoard soybeans

  

  Argentine farmers have stockpiled more than twice as many soybeans this year than in 2014 defying a government desperate to increase export tax revenue needed to finance rising state spending ahead of the October presidential election.


• Tuesday, April 7th 2015 - 07:46 UTC

  Argentina appeals to Judge Griesa bar on Citibank to process bonds under local law

  

  Argentina has formally appealed to the New York justice system the ruling handed down by district judge Thomas Griesa, which barred intermediary Citibank from processing US dollar denominated debt services issued under Argentine law and which expired on March 31.

• Tuesday, April 7th 2015 - 06:25 UTC

  Falklands/Malvinas war documents declassified; Argentine Defense ministry has 30 days to make them available

  

  The Argentine government on Monday officially declassified secret files relating to the country's 1982 war with Britain over the Falkland Islands. The Defense Ministry has 30 working days to establish a mechanism for members of the public to consult the records, according to a resolution published in the official gazette.

• Tuesday, April 7th 2015 - 05:55 UTC

  Argentine regulators inspect Citibank, following dispute over accord with hedge funds

  

  Argentina’s central bank sent regulators to inspect Citibank's headquarters in Buenos Aires on Monday after the head of the branch was suspended amid a legal battle over Argentina's debt. Regulators are working to verify whether the bank was able to maintain normal operations following CEO Gabriel Ribisich's suspension last week, the government news agency Telam said.