Politics

• Sunday, February 8th 2009 - 01:59 UTC

  Bolivia's Morales: New constitution takes effect

  

  Evo Morales, Bolivia's president, has enacted a new constitution which hands greater powers to the country's indigenous majority and allows him to seek a second five-year term.

• Saturday, February 7th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Mrs. Kirchner believes Obama has read Perón's writings

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said this week she was pleased when she heard US President Barack Obama say that “trade unions are not part of the problem but part of the solution”.

• Saturday, February 7th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Uruguay's ruling coalition primary “nasty and foul”

  

  One of Uruguay's ruling coalition presidential hopefuls claimed the primary campaign was turning “nasty” and could leave “deep wounds” plus mistrust and called for a “clean, respectful campaign”. He admitted that he could be the target of an inside boycott.

• Friday, February 6th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Colombia's FARC releases last civilian hostage

  

  Colombia's Revolutionary Armed Forces, FARC, released Thursday the last civilian among a group of 22 so-called political captives held by the rebels. Two Red Cross helicopters were involved in the release of the former lawmaker Sigifredo Lopez, 45, held captive by the drug-funded group for almost seven years.

• Friday, February 6th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  FARC committed war crimes and act on paranoiac cowardice

  

  The last civilian hostage to be released by the Colombian rebel group FARC revealed that eleven of his kidnapped peers were killed shot in the back, by the guerrillas in an act of what he described as “paranoiac cowardice”.

• Friday, February 6th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  UNESCO calls for preservation of HMS Victory wreck

  

  The head of the United Nations cultural agency today called for the preservation of a British man-o-war sent to the bottom of the English Channel by a storm in 1744 with all hands and, it is said, a sizeable gold treasure.

• Friday, February 6th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Falkland Islands: Weekly Penguin News Update

  

  Headlines: Liberty Lodge: ready and welcoming; Speaker resigns over insider trading; Formal hearing over drugs loss.

• Friday, February 6th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Wrong policies will cost Argentine farmers 12.5 billion this year

  

  Lack of rainfall, collapse of commodities prices plus misguided camp policies from the Argentine government will cost farmers a fall in income of 43 billion pesos (equivalent to 12.5 billion US dollars) in 2009 compared to last year, according to the Argentine Rural Confederations, CRA.

• Thursday, February 5th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazilian opposition delays Venezuela's Mercosur bid

  

  Members of the Brazilian Congress opposition again delayed on Wednesday the consideration of Venezuela's Mercosur incorporation protocol, in spite of strong appeals from the ruling coalition of President Lula da Silva.

• Thursday, February 5th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  UK trade unions win first labour “protectionism” case

  

  UK oil refinery workers who walked out in a dispute over foreign labour have agreed to return to work. Hundreds of workers at the Lindsey Oil Refinery, in North Lincolnshire, voted to end their unofficial industrial action after accepting a deal drawn up by union officials and companies at the heart of the row.