Politics

• Monday, August 24th 2015 - 10:16 UTC

  HMS Lancaster, RFA Gold Rover and South African units in naval exercise

  

  Three South African Navy ships have joined two British Royal Navy vessels and welcomed them to Simon’s Town. The frigate HMS Lancaster and Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker, Gold Rover, on Atlantic Patrol Tasking have both spent 19 days travelling 4,000 miles across the cold South Atlantic, calling at the Falkland Islands and South Georgia.

• Monday, August 24th 2015 - 09:56 UTC

  Chinese shares fall sharply on Monday; IMF says it's a “necessary adjustment”

  

  Chinese shares continued their sharp fall on Monday as concerns over the country's slowing growth and volatile markets sparked panic among traders. The mainland benchmark index, the Shanghai Composite, fell sharply by 8.4% to 3,211.75 points, extending last week's losses.

• Monday, August 24th 2015 - 09:35 UTC

  Mafia boss funeral of “King of Rome” reveals close links with city officials

  

  The funeral of an alleged mafia boss in Rome has sparked anger after a lavish cortege with black-plumed horses, petals dropped from a helicopter and the theme tune from The Godfather. Italian politicians denounced the ostentatious send-off for Vittorio Casamonica, 65.

• Monday, August 24th 2015 - 09:13 UTC

  Carlitos Tevez shocked with poverty, causes an uproar in Argentina

  

  The Argentine football star Carlos Tevez, who played in England, Italy and is now back in Argentina caused a major uproar when during a television interview he said that in the northern province of Formosa he had come across poor people who were literally 'dead hungry'.

• Monday, August 24th 2015 - 08:54 UTC

  Pope Francis and the Malvinas

  

  By Jimmy Burns - The snapped moment of encounter projected fast and globally on the world wide web has become as much as a characteristic of the Francis papacy, as his twitter account @pontifex. This is a papacy with a charismatic personality and instinctive communicator at its helm. It is also a papacy advised by media specialists and diplomats that know something about the opportunity offered by the digital age to spread a message with an impact that would have inconceivable just a few years ago.

• Saturday, August 22nd 2015 - 07:56 UTC

  Prosecution requests impeachment of Guatemala president Otto Perez

  

  Guatemala’s prosecutor’s office said Friday that it has requested the Supreme Court's permission to start an impeachment process for President Otto Perez Molina over a sprawling corruption case that has held the country in the grip of political turmoil for months. The move came hours after the former vice president was placed under arrest for her own alleged role in the scandal.

• Saturday, August 22nd 2015 - 02:46 UTC

  Falklands' retail price index down to 0.3% in first half on lower fuel and power costs

  

  The Falklands' Retail Price Index for the quarter ending June 30, 2015 decreased by 0.8%, meaning that the annual Retail Price Index (RPI) as at the end of June was 0.3%, helped by lower prices of fuel and power.

• Friday, August 21st 2015 - 11:35 UTC

  Royal Navy's third Astute Class attack submarine ready for sea trials

  

  Artful, the third of the U.K. Royal Navy’s new Astute Class attack submarines, has arrived at her Scottish base port from where she will carry out sea trials before entering service later this year, the U.K. Ministry of Defense announced.

• Friday, August 21st 2015 - 07:49 UTC

  Merkel calls for a free trade accord between the Europe Union and Mercosur

  

  German Chancellor Angela Merkel pressed Brazil's government on Thursday to further open its markets to foreign companies, and said she saw an opportunity to reach a free-trade deal between the European Union and the Mercosur trade bloc. Merkel is on a two-day visit to Brazil with a large delegation of government officials and representatives from German companies.

• Friday, August 21st 2015 - 07:41 UTC

  Rousseff admits a year of recession because of 'massive economic difficulties”

  

  A slump in commodity markets will burden the global economy for some time to come, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff told Germany's Handelsblatt business daily, adding she hoped the Brazilian economy would pick up in a year.