Politics

• Monday, April 7th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  IMF tightens budget and decides to sell 403 tons of gold

  

  The International Monetary Fund's executive board approved Monday a broad financial overhaul plan that includes the sale of 403 tons of its gold holdings as part of a radical plan to shore up its finances.

• Sunday, April 6th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Ben-Hur actor Charlton Heston dies at 84

  

  Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing “Ben-Hur” and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the '50s and '60s, has died. He was 84.

• Sunday, April 6th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Chavez nationalizes cement industry; Mexico condemns

  

  Mexico yesterday condemned Venezuela's planned nationalization of the cement industry, which will affect Cemex, a major Mexican company.
  
  “We can only condemn this action,” Finance Minister Agustín Carstens said in the city of Acapulco.

• Saturday, April 5th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Malvinas veterans demand identification of comrades' remains

  A group of Malvinas veterans who last week on the anniversary of the beginning of the conflict visited the Falkland Islands, called on the Argentine government for the identification of all combatants buried in the Argentine cemetery at Darwin, reports the Buenos Aires press.

• Saturday, April 5th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile and Argentina launch Cruz del Sur Joint Peace Force

  The Joint Chiefs of Staff from the combined Argentine Chilean Peace Force, Cruz del Sur (Southern Cross) was officially imposed this week in Santiago and described as “another landmark” in the bilateral relation of the neighboring countries.

• Saturday, April 5th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Brown and Bachelet call for a “new progressive agenda”

  British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Chilean president Michelle Bachelet underlined on Friday the urgent need for “a new progressive agenda” to tackle global issues such as climate change, globalization, poverty and inequality in the developing world.

• Saturday, April 5th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Bachelet meets Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle

  “Chilean British relations are excellent” said President Michelle Bachelet following the half hour private meeting on Friday with Queen Elizabeth II in Windsor Castle. Ms Bachelet is on an official visit to Britain that includes her participation in a political conference of centre left leaders hosted by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

• Friday, April 4th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Colombian rebels demand a major exchange of prisoners

  A leader of Colombia's rebel group FARC ruled out the release of a high profile seriously ill French-Colombian hostage, (“she will remain in our camps”), unless there is a major prisoner exchange. The statement cast doubt on a French humanitarian mission sent to treat her.

• Friday, April 4th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Falkland Islands: Weekly Penguin News Update

  

  Headlines: Happy Birthday RAF!; Blind runner embarks upon marathon challenge; Who will get oil money?; Man jailed; Credits in question; Woken with a bang; Dream heralds end of season.

• Thursday, April 3rd 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Kirchners Malvinas message: no war and no Winnie the Pooh

  

  On the 26th anniversary of the beginning of the Falklands war, now renamed the Day of the Malvinas war veteran, Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner renewed calls for sovereignty over the South Atlantic Islands and emphasized that the Malvinas claim is “unflagging”.