Politics

• Wednesday, April 2nd 2014 - 07:43 UTC

  UK interest in the Malvinas is '100% economic', claims Argentine official

  

  Britain's interest in the Malvinas Islands is “100% economic” and if hydrocarbons exploration in the waters surrounding the archipelago advances “we could be facing a major ecologic disaster”, said Daniel Filmus, head of the Argentine Foreign Ministry Malvinas Affairs Secretariat.

• Wednesday, April 2nd 2014 - 07:30 UTC

  “We planted between 15.000 and 20.000 antipersonnel and antitank mines” in Malvinas

  

  In a rare interview, the Argentine Colonel who was responsible for placing mines in the occupied Falkland Islands in 1982 as part of the defense strategy against the advancing British forces, admits that between 15.000 and 20.000 of antipersonnel and anti tank explosives were planted, but also claims some stretches of the Islands' coast already had mines which had been placed by the British.

• Tuesday, April 1st 2014 - 04:06 UTC

  Bachelet sends corporate tax bill to Congress; first step for education reform

  

  President Michelle Bachelet sent Chile's Congress a bill on Monday that would raise corporate taxes to fund a sweeping overhaul of the country's education system. The proposed reform aims to raise 8.2 billion dollars to fund tuition-free public universities, a demand that fueled massive student protests under Bachelet's conservative predecessor Sebastian Piñera.

• Tuesday, April 1st 2014 - 03:45 UTC

  Conflict with government over violence in Uruguayan football could have FIFA consequences

  

  Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) president Sebastián Bauza and the entire body's board of directors have tendered their resignations, as a fierce conflict sparked by President José Mujica's decision to remove police officers from the country's two most popular teams' matches (Peñarol and Nacional) generally marred by violence and destruction.

• Tuesday, April 1st 2014 - 03:41 UTC

  Hollande changes policy and names pro-business prime minister

  

  French President Francois Hollande has chosen centrist Interior Minister Manuel Valls as his new prime minister, replacing Jean-Marc Ayrault who quit after the ruling Socialists were trounced in local elections. The 51-year-old Valls has been compared with “New Labor” former British premier Tony Blair both for his pro-business ideas and his dashing style.

• Tuesday, April 1st 2014 - 01:24 UTC

  Malvinas war veterans plan symbolic repeat of Falklands invasion in Ushuaia

  

  Ushuaia Malvinas war veterans are planning a symbolic repeat of the Falklands military invasion by Argentine forces on the night of April first 1982, although this time the landing will take place along the Beagle Channel coast, according to reports from the capital of Tierra del Fuego in the extreme south of Argentina.

• Monday, March 31st 2014 - 23:20 UTC

  Brazil remembers the 50th anniversary of the coup that led to 21 years of military rule

  

  President Dilma Rousseff remembered on Monday, 31 March, those who died or disappeared fighting for the return of democracy in Brazil on the fifitieth anniversary of the miltiary coup of 1964, which lasted until 1985 and had full political support from the United States, at the time under president Lyndon Johnson.

• Monday, March 31st 2014 - 19:42 UTC

  Uruguay and Peru in line for a possible upgrading, according to Moody's

  

  Uruguay and Peru are the first Latin American countries in line for a possible credit rating hike by Moody's Investors Service, at a moment when sovereign upgrades are expected to become more scarce in the region, a senior analyst with the ratings firm said.

• Monday, March 31st 2014 - 19:28 UTC

  Mercosur expects to exchange tariff-reduction proposals with EU next June

  

  Mercosur expects to present a joint proposal regarding tariff reductions to the European Union during a meeting next June, according to Brazil's Minister of Development, Trade and Industry, Mauro Borges who apparently convinced a reluctant Argentina to join the group.

• Monday, March 31st 2014 - 19:25 UTC

  Brazil/Argentina agree on deal to promote bilateral trade by guaranteeing 'dollar liquidity'

  

  Brazil and Argentina signed a deal over the weekend that seeks to guarantee importers will have enough U.S. dollars to pay for exports, a move to increase trade between both nations that has been hit hard by a sharp depreciation of the Argentine peso.