Politics

• Thursday, January 29th 2015 - 09:40 UTC

  Nisman feared for his life, mistrusted his security and asked for the gun

  

  A computer technician in the Buenos Aires prosecutor’s office who has been charged for lending a pistol to Alberto Nisman said the slain prosecutor asked him for the gun since he feared for his life and could no longer trust the team in charge of his security.

• Thursday, January 29th 2015 - 07:55 UTC

  UK economy expanded 2.6% in 2014, the fastest since 2007

  

  The UK's economy grew by 2.6% last year, the fastest pace since 2007 and up from 1.7% in 2013, official figures have from the Office of National Statistics, ONS, have shown. The economy expanded 0.5% in the last quarter of 2014, which was a slowdown from the 0.7% of the previous three months.

• Thursday, January 29th 2015 - 07:45 UTC

  Parents of 43 Mexican kidnapped students refuse to accept the 'official' probe results

  

  The parents of the 43 students kidnapped four months ago in the southern state of Guerrero say Mexico's attorney general has no scientific proof to support his assertion that the youths were killed and their bodies burned.

• Thursday, January 29th 2015 - 07:38 UTC

  YPF and China's Sinopec sign memorandum to develop shale oil and gas in Patagonia

  

  Argentine state-controlled energy company YPF said it signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday with China's Sinopec pertaining to the eventual development of conventional and non-conventional oil and gas projects in Patagonia.

• Thursday, January 29th 2015 - 07:17 UTC

  Consumer confidence in Brazil drops in January to its lowest

  

  The reading of consumer confidence dropped in Brazil in January--to its lowest level ever--as the country's economy struggled. Brazil's main consumer-confidence index was at 89.8 points in January, down from 96.2 points in December, the Getulio Vargas Foundation, or FGV, said earlier this week.

• Thursday, January 29th 2015 - 07:03 UTC

  Chilean Senate approves civil union of homosexual couples

  

  The Chilean Senate has passed the Civil Union Agreement (AUC) bill, which legalizes the civil union between homosexual couples, making Chile the seventh country in South America to establish such unions.

• Thursday, January 29th 2015 - 06:53 UTC

  Fidel Castro in “good health and feels great admiration for Pope Francis”

  

  Fidel Castro is in good health and feels “deep admiration” for Pope Francis, Brazilian intellectual Frei Betto said on Wednesday a day after meeting with Cuba's former president. He and Fidel discussed a wide range of subjects and the 88-year-old leader of the Cuban Revolution remains “very optimistic,” Betto told reporters in Havana.

• Thursday, January 29th 2015 - 06:32 UTC

  Raul Castro demands the return of Guantanamo and compensation for US trade embargo

  

  Cuban President Raul Castro demanded on Wednesday that the United States return the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, lift the half-century trade embargo on Cuba and compensate his country for damages before the two nations re-establish normal relations.

• Thursday, January 29th 2015 - 06:15 UTC

  Only family and friends at AMIA prosecutor Nisman's wake

  

  A wake for Argentina's AMIA special prosecutor Alberto Nisman was held Wednesday afternoon in a ceremony with his family and friends. His body will be buried Thursday at the Tablada Israeli Cemetery, the Jewish News Agency (AJN) reported.

• Wednesday, January 28th 2015 - 08:04 UTC

  Cristina Fernandez speech was made to 'distract attention' claims Argentine opposition

  

  Argentina's Lower House opposition caucus leaders have rejected the proposed dissolution of the Intelligence Secretariat (SI, formerly known as SIDE), announced Monday evening by President Cristina Fernández, as they consider it was made to “distract attention” from the death of AMIA special prosecutor Alberto Nisman.