Politics

• Monday, March 21st 2011 - 21:37 UTC

  Italy fears massive inflow of African refugees, asks for help from EU members

  

  Italy is urging other European countries to take a greater share of the immigrants pouring across from North Africa. The tiny island of Lampedusa is just south of Sicily and only 150 kilometers from the Tunisian coast and has borne the brunt of the flood of refugees.

• Monday, March 21st 2011 - 19:11 UTC

  Fearing social unrest, Beijing bans “hedonistic, high-end” lifestyles advertising

  

  China's capital has banned outdoor advertising that promotes hedonistic or high-end lifestyles as the government seeks to ease public concerns about the country's widening wealth gap.

• Monday, March 21st 2011 - 16:47 UTC

  Fidel: “Will Mr. Obama apologize to the Chilean people for the 1973 coup?”

  

  Cuban revolution leader Fidel Castro questions if US president Barack Obama, who on Monday is visiting Chile will apologize for the military coup against Salvador Allende in 1973, according to his latest article released this Monday.

• Monday, March 21st 2011 - 16:37 UTC

  President Obama: Chile is a model for the region and for the world

  

  (Editor’s note: The following “hard hitting” interview with U.S. President Barack Obama appeared in the Santiago’s Sunday El Mercurio edition.) Obama arrives in Chile Monday, from Brazil, as part of his Latin American visit that also includes El Salvador.

• Monday, March 21st 2011 - 07:50 UTC

  Organized labour insists in sharing presidential ticket with Cristina Kirchner

  

  Argentine organized labour continues to put pressure on the government insisting that a representative from the unions should be in the presidential ticket with Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner who is expected in the coming weeks to announce her re-election bid for next October elections.

• Monday, March 21st 2011 - 07:45 UTC

  Peru April 10 presidential election: any of five candidates can make it to the run off

  

  With less than three weeks to April 10 Peruvian presidential election the electorate remains volatile with no candidates assured a first round victory (50% plus one votes cast) or making it to the run off.

• Monday, March 21st 2011 - 07:34 UTC

  Cuban Ladies in White harassed by pro-Castro hecklers

  

  Cuban government supporters harassed a group of dissidents who met at a home in Havana to commemorate the eighth anniversary of a sweeping crackdown on dissent.

• Monday, March 21st 2011 - 07:28 UTC

  The night before the Argentine military coup 24 March 1976, according to Videla

  

  From jail where he is serving two life sentences for crimes against humanity Argentina’s former dictator Jorge Rafael Videla gave some insights to the day before the 24 March 1976 military coup when then president Isabel Martinez de Peron called him asking support from the Armed Forces for her eroding administration.

• Monday, March 21st 2011 - 07:11 UTC

  Obama says Brazil’s transition to democracy an example for the Arab world

  

  President Barack Obama, declaring support for Brazil’s rising global economic clout, said the country’s transition from dictatorship to democracy can serve as a model for pro-democracy movements around the world, including in North Africa and the Middle East.

• Monday, March 21st 2011 - 07:06 UTC

  Massive support in Egypt for constitutional amendments

  

  Egyptians have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a package of constitutional amendments, according to official results released on Sunday evening. Slightly more than 77% of voters endorsed the amendments, the country's supreme judicial committee has announced.