Politics

• Friday, October 5th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates visits Chile

  

  As part of his five-nation tour through Latin America, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates met Thursday with his Chilean counterpart José Goñi Carrasco to discuss “defense issues of common interest” and to sign a bilateral agreement.

• Friday, October 5th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Crucial referendum on Sunday for Costa Rica and C. America

  On Sunday Costa Rica votes on a crucial free trade agreement with the United States which has the country's electorate split almost equal, according to the latest public opinion polls. The situation could be of concern for the future of Central America's most stable democracy.

• Thursday, October 4th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Cardiff unveiled the Welsh National Falklands Memorial

  

  The first Falkland Islands war memorial in Wales was uneviled in Catahys Park, Cardiff, during a ceremony that gathered hundreds of South Atlantic war veterans.

• Thursday, October 4th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Playboy photos reveal latest Brazilian political scandal

  

  A beautiful journalist at the heart of one of the latest Brazilian Congress scandals has hit the cover of the Brazil edition of Playboy and become an instant sales success.

• Thursday, October 4th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Arrest of Pinochet ring: in Chile “no one is above the law”

  

  President Michelle Bachelet called for calm and said “no one is above the law” in Chile following the indictment on Thursday on corruption charges of 23 people related to former dictator General Augusto Pinochet including his widow and five children.

• Thursday, October 4th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Alleged Malvinas war dead discovered in Brazilian prison

  

  He was given for dead and honoured in multiple ceremonies as one of the 649 Argentine combatants who lost their lives 25 years ago in the Malvinas war. However just a few days ago with the help of internet his sister discovered Efrain Renato Salcedo was alive, but imprisoned in Brazil, reports the Argentine press.

• Thursday, October 4th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  FT mocks Mrs. K devotion to foreign travel

  

  The Buenos Aires Financial Times office wrote a scathing article about the Argentine First Lady and presidential candidate Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner saying she devotes so much time to foreign travel during her election campaign that it almost looks as though “she is running for a job at the United Nations, not the presidency of Argentina”.

• Thursday, October 4th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  New controversy with Brazil's air traffic control system

  

  Brazil's top aviation official on Thursday rebuffed charges by the head of an international air traffic controllers organization who said it was only “a question of time” before there was a new air disaster in Brazil.

• Wednesday, October 3rd 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Incipient political dialogue between US and Venezuela

  Top diplomats from Venezuela and United States held talks aimed at improving relations, discussing a possible visit to Caracas by Washington's leading envoy for the Americas. Relations between the two countries have been tense for years.

• Wednesday, October 3rd 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina announces “discouragement letter” to Billinton

  

  Argentina announced a “formal protest” before the United Kingdom for having extended hydrocarbons exploration and production licences to the east and south of the Falkland Islands. The Foreign Affairs Ministry also anticipated “discouragement letters” to the companies involved reported the Buenos Aires press Tuesday evening.