
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is to launch a baton relay – one of the longest in history – in the presence of Indian President Pratibha Patil to lift the curtain on the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, organizers announced this week.

Colombian lawmakers passed a bill on Tuesday aimed at allowing President Alvaro Uribe to seek a third consecutive term if the conservative U.S. ally chooses to run for re-election next May.

The image of Argentina president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her predecessor and husband Nestor Kirchner have plunged to an all time record low since they took office: 23% and 21% respectively, according to the latest public opinion poll published in the site of the Buenos Aires newspaper Critica.

President Barack Obama should take the first step towards dismantling the US embargo against Cuba by not renewing sanctions against the island under the Trading with the Enemy Act, said Amnesty International in an official Tuesday release.

Gibraltar Chief Minister Peter Caruana signed a tax information exchange agreement (TIEA) with the UK which is set to boost levels of transparency on tax-related issues, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.

An article published Sunday in the official Cuban daily Juventud Rebelde criticizes the “morbid obsession” and “paranoia” of some officials for censuring information and rejecting criticism by other officials in an attempt to maintain the image of the Castro ruled island or their own positions.

Chilean Defence Minister Fransisco Vidal confirmed Monday that the Military still employs people accused or convicted of human rights abuses under Chile’s military dictatorship (1973-1990). The state employees receive monthly salaries of up to 2,200 US dollars.

Unemployment in the 16-member Euro zone hit a 10-year high in July, data released Tuesday showed. EU statistics office Eurostat said that another 167,000 people were unemployed in the Euro zone during July, pushing the jobless rate up to 9.5% from 9.4% in June which takes the total to 15.1 million people.

Iranian MPs have strongly backed the defence minister-designate, in defiance of Argentine demands for his arrest over a 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires. Ahmad Vahidi faced no opposition from MPs on the third day of a debate on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's choices for his new cabinet.

The Commonwealth has fully suspended Fiji after it refused to bow to demands to call elections by next year. Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma cited the Pacific island country's lack of progress towards democracy.