Politics

• Saturday, May 17th 2014 - 08:55 UTC

  Another chapter of Colombia peace talks closed; FARC admits links with the drug trade

  

  Colombia's government and FARC rebels announced on Friday an agreement to jointly combat illicit drug trade in the country as part of a six-point peace plan. The deal comes ahead of May 25 elections in the country and is an implicit admission of the guerrillas' links with the drug trade.

• Saturday, May 17th 2014 - 07:11 UTC

  Venezuela's protests should be over by July when the summer holidays, says top security official

  

  Venezuela’s three-month protest movement has dwindled to a hard core of a few hundred violent troublemakers and the unrest should be over by July, when schools and universities break up for the summer holidays, a top security official said.

• Saturday, May 17th 2014 - 06:58 UTC

  Rousseff 'fed up' with Blatter; hopes Brazil win the Cup playing Argentina in the final match

  

  Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff confessed on Thursday evening during dinner with journalists that she is fed up with FIFA chief Joseph Blatter and said the last chapter of protests in the Brazilian cities that will host the World Cup next month were a failure.

• Saturday, May 17th 2014 - 06:45 UTC

  Obama lists assets worth 7.15 million; presidential salary 400.000 dollars

  

  President Barack Obama lists assets worth between 1.95 million and 7.15 million dollars, of which 1 million to 5 million dollars were in Treasury notes, according to financial disclosure forms released today.

• Saturday, May 17th 2014 - 06:39 UTC

  Blatter admits that awarding Qatar the 2022 World Cup was a 'mistake'

  

  Awarding the 2022 soccer World Cup to Qatar was a 'mistake' and the tournament will probably have to be held in the winter because of the heat, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has said.“Of course, it was a mistake. You know, one comes across a lot of mistakes in life,” he told Swiss television station RTS in an interview.

• Saturday, May 17th 2014 - 06:27 UTC

  Opposition party wins landslide in India trouncing the ruling Nehru-Gandhi dynasty

  

  Opposition candidate Narendra Modi thundered to victory on Friday in India's election, with partial results showing that the pro-business Hindu nationalist and his party trounced the ruling Nehru-Gandhi dynasty in a seismic political shift.

• Friday, May 16th 2014 - 19:51 UTC

  Ice patrol HMS Protector in Charleston after crossing the Panama Canal

  

  The Royal Navy’s ice patrol ship has made a night-time journey through the Panama Canal to arrive in Charleston following a busy period in Antarctica. HMS Protector took seven hours and 38 minutes to make the 77.1km passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic through the canal, which this year marks its centenary.

• Friday, May 16th 2014 - 19:23 UTC

  “Labor tried to sell you down the river into the Mediterranean” Tories remind Gibraltar

  

  Grant Shapps, British Conservative MP and party chairman urged Gibraltarians to vote Tory in the EU election and reminded the Rock that Labor ‘tried to sell you down the river into the Mediterranean’. Shapps was speaking shortly after arriving in Gibraltar and paying a courtesy visit on acting Chief Minister Dr John Cortes.

• Friday, May 16th 2014 - 11:08 UTC

  Bachelet announces emergency plan to tackle energy shortage with natural gas

  

  President Michelle Bachelet announced on Thursday that Chile would invest 650 million dollars to build a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal and strengthen the state-run oil company in an effort to deal with a mounting power crunch.

• Friday, May 16th 2014 - 11:05 UTC

  Lidington and Picardo review EU timetable to end delays at Spain/Gibraltar border

  

  On welcoming Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, UK minister for Europe David Lidington reaffirmed the strong bonds with Gibraltar and London's commitment to stand by the people of the Rock, while calling on Spain to implement EU recommendations to reduce border delays.