Politics

• Wednesday, July 1st 2009 - 12:50 UTC

  US Democrats consolidate control of the Senate with 61 seats

  

  The state of Minnesota's Supreme Court declared Democrat Al Franken the winner of the disputed 2008 US Senate race thus giving the Democrats their 60th vote.

• Wednesday, July 1st 2009 - 12:44 UTC

  MPs call for an end to all UK military aid to Colombia

  

  British Members of Parliament from all parties are calling for an end to all UK military aid to Colombia, citing murders and human rights abuses by the country's security forces. The MPs have launched a TUC-backed group called Friends of Colombia.

• Wednesday, July 1st 2009 - 12:33 UTC

  Peruvian government saved from Congressional censure motion

  

  The Peruvian Congress was unable to muster the necessary votes to censure Prime Minister Yehude Simon and Minister of Interior Mercedes Cabanillas over the recent violent clashes in the Amazonia region which left scores of dead both among policemen and the protesting indigenous communities.

• Wednesday, July 1st 2009 - 12:24 UTC

  Honduras president offers deal to end constitutional crisis

  

  Honduras president Manuel Zelaya offered a deal Tuesday to the military leaders who ousted him - he'll quit in January if allowed to return and serve out his term in office.

• Tuesday, June 30th 2009 - 15:22 UTC

  Honduran’s Zelaya president vows to return

  

  The Honduran president ousted by a military coup and forced into exile has said he will return home on Thursday. Speaking in the Nicaraguan capital, Managua, late on Monday, Manuel Zelaya said: “I go to Tegucigalpa on Thursday. I'm the elected president, I will fulfil my four-year term.”

• Tuesday, June 30th 2009 - 15:13 UTC

  Mrs. Kirchner downplays defeat and asks for support from Congress

  

  Argentine president Cristina Kirchner downplayed the defeat suffered by government candidates in Sunday’s mid term elections and insisted the ruling coalition had won with 31.03% of the overall national vote, denied any cabinet changes and criticized political analysts for their interpretation of election results.

• Tuesday, June 30th 2009 - 15:01 UTC

  Top advisor and a banker leaving Lula da Silva administration

  

  Two officials from the Lula da Silva administration which have played crucial roles are expected to leave the government in the coming months. One of them is presidential advisor Roberto Mangabeira Unger who is returning to Harvard University, the other banker Henrique Meirelles who is planning to run for governor of the state of Goias.

• Tuesday, June 30th 2009 - 14:56 UTC

  Kirchner quits the presidency of the Peronist party

  

  Argentine former President Néstor Kirchner announced Monday he had resigned the presidency of the Justicialista (Peronist) Party, in a message that was recorded in the Olivos presidential residency by the official news agency Telam and was aired by the local media.

• Tuesday, June 30th 2009 - 06:47 UTC

  Baroness Thatcher with her left arm in a sling, released from hospital

  

  Baroness Thatcher has returned home from hospital more than two weeks after breaking her arm in a fall. The former Prime Minister, dressed in a pink cardigan, pink top and cream-coloured skirt, with her left arm apparently in a sling, waved at reporters and smiled on the doorstep of her central London home.

• Tuesday, June 30th 2009 - 06:44 UTC

  Royal family costs British taxpayer 69p per person

  

  Queen Elizabeth II and the Royal Family cost the British taxpayer 69p per person last year - an increase of 3p, Buckingham Palace accounts have revealed. The total cost of keeping the monarchy increased by £1.5 million to £41.5 million during the 2008-09 financial year.