Politics

• Wednesday, February 2nd 2011 - 16:43 UTC

  Suriname recognizes a Palestinian state on 1967 borders

  

  The Republic of Suriname on Tuesday became the latest South American country to officially recognize a Palestinian state on 1967 borders, Palestinian Authority Foreign Affairs Minister Riad Al-Malki said.

• Wednesday, February 2nd 2011 - 16:39 UTC

  ‘Lex Duvalier’ enables Switzerland to confiscate and repatriate illicit dictator assets

  

  Switzerland has moved to confiscate frozen assets linked to former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier. The Swiss cabinet asked Finance Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf to begin proceedings to seize around 6.2 million US dollars that has been frozen in Swiss bank accounts since 1986, with a view to returning the funds to the Haitian people.

• Wednesday, February 2nd 2011 - 14:30 UTC

  Castro tells bureaucrats to end waste, improvisation and listen to people’s concerns

  

  President Raul Castro called on the Cuban government to eliminate waste and provide more efficient and improved quality services while keeping “feet and ears on the ground” to closely listen to Cubans concerns regarding the economic reforms recently put into practice.

• Wednesday, February 2nd 2011 - 14:24 UTC

  Egypt triggers debate in the US on an internet “switch off” bill

  

  While Egypt's government attempted to crackdown on street protests by shutting down internet and mobile phone services, United States is preparing to reintroduce a bill that could be used to shut down the internet.

• Wednesday, February 2nd 2011 - 07:06 UTC

  Argentina declares compulsory conciliation to end crippling strike at export ports

  

  Argentina's government has ordered unions to suspend a week-old strike at leading grains ports for a 15-day period to hold talks with company bosses, a Labour Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, February 2nd 2011 - 07:00 UTC

  Obama message to Mubarak: orderly political transition “must begin now”

  

  US President Barack Obama has said an orderly political transition “must begin now” in Egypt and lead to free and fair elections. His statement followed the announcement by Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak that he would not stand for re-election.

• Wednesday, February 2nd 2011 - 06:56 UTC

  Six candidates to fill the post of FAO Director General

  

  Six candidates have been put forward by member nations of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to succeed Senegalese Jaques Diouf as Director General in elections to be held in June.

• Wednesday, February 2nd 2011 - 06:53 UTC

  Trade deficit main “concern” for Argentine/Brazilian relations

  

  Argentine Foreign Affairs minister Héctor Timerman revealed Tuesday that the trade deficit Argentina has with Brazil is “concerning”, and indicated that both nations are working “to reduce it.”

• Wednesday, February 2nd 2011 - 06:49 UTC

  Latin America inter-region trade soared 24.6% in 2010

  

  Inter-region Latinamerican trade soared 24.6% to 133 billion US dollars during 2010 according to the latest report from ALADI (Latinamerican Integration Association) released Tuesday in Montevideo. This signals a significant recovery from the late 2008 financial crisis but still is short of that year’s record of 146 billion USD.

• Wednesday, February 2nd 2011 - 01:13 UTC

  Soy prices soar as Argentine ports are blocked by week-long strike

  

  The provincial government of Santa Fe home of Argentina's grain export hub has requested the federal government to help end a week-old strike that is delaying shipments from one of the world's biggest food suppliers, the provincial Labour minister said on Tuesday.