Politics

• Tuesday, January 14th 2014 - 23:54 UTC

  US congress negotiating spending bill to avoid another shutdown of government

  

  Negotiators in the US Congress unveiled a 1.1 trillion dollars spending bill that aims to prevent another government shutdown while boosting funding levels slightly for military and domestic programs - but not for “Obamacare” health reforms.

• Tuesday, January 14th 2014 - 23:49 UTC

  Forces line up for Scotland's September vote on independence: Hague in Glasgow

  

  UK Foreign Secretary and Chief Secretary of the Treasury are scheduled to launch on Friday in Glasgow a Scotland analysis paper, the first in the series to be published since the launch of the Scottish Government’s White Paper in November. Next September Scotland is holding a vote on independence.

• Tuesday, January 14th 2014 - 18:34 UTC

  Falklands fisheries will come under attack from Argentina so as to 'strangle the Islands'' economy

  

  Argentina is preparing a battery of instruments to attack the Falklands fisheries and involved fishing companies with the purpose of 'strangling the economy' of the Islands thus forcing the UK to sit and dialogue on South Atlantic Islands sovereignty, according to a piece by La Nacion columnist Martín Dinatale.

• Tuesday, January 14th 2014 - 07:39 UTC

  Argentine Supreme court Judge blasts the police and the political elite

  

  To avoid a repeat of recent police strikes and the violence that followed the government should review the structure of Argentina’s police force, Supreme Court Justice Eugenio Zaffaroni declared, taking aim at both the country’s police and its political elite.

• Tuesday, January 14th 2014 - 07:32 UTC

  Mercosur and EU to exchange tariff reduction proposals in early February

  

  Paraguay's Foreign minister Eladio Loizaga said on Monday that at the latest in early February Mercosur and the European Union would be exchanging their tariff reduction proposals for the much delayed free trade agreement. The deadline originally was December but it was delayed on request from Brussels.

• Tuesday, January 14th 2014 - 07:23 UTC

  Prison sentences for those who drill for oil in Malvinas waters, warns Argentina

  

  ”Argentina will defend its claim” over the Malvinas Islands and companies drilling for oil off the coast of the contested resource-rich archipelago “will not only face administrative consequences but also prison sentences” warned Daniel Filmus, head of Argentina's recently created Malvinas Islands Secretariat, in an interview with The Guardian.

• Tuesday, January 14th 2014 - 00:54 UTC

  Chile, Peru prepare as Hague Court sets to resolve territorial dispute

  

  With the decision over ongoing maritime dispute between Chile and Peru just weeks away, government officials on both sides insist relations between them are strong. On Jan. 27 Peru and Chile are set to find out who has legal ownership over 14,500 square miles of fishing waters off their borders, putting an end to a centuries-long dispute and ending a five year international court case.

• Tuesday, January 14th 2014 - 00:00 UTC

  Foreign Office stretched “almost to the limit”, warns Parliament: “a more realistic approach needed”

  

  The Foreign Office is being stretched “almost to the limit” as it attempts to cut spending at a time of international turbulence while having to cope with additional demands such as the London Olympics, MPs have said.

• Monday, January 13th 2014 - 07:35 UTC

  A frustrated Mujica calls for a readjustment of Mercosur legal framework

  

  Uruguayan president José Mujica said that members of Mercosur must readjust the block's legal framework ‘to make it work’ so that differences among its partners can be resolved in an institutional framework. He insisted on a review and amendment of mechanisms with greater flexibility and more adapted to current circumstances.

• Monday, January 13th 2014 - 07:27 UTC

  Nicaragua announces that construction of inter-ocean canal begins this year

  

  President Manuel Ortega said on Saturday that the construction of a massive inter-oceanic canal in Nicaragua that could significantly alter global trade would start at the end of 2014. Ortega gave a Chinese group a concession to manage the future shipping channel for 50 years, with the possibility to renew the contract for another 50.