Politics

• Saturday, July 20th 2019 - 18:02 UTC

  Iran Guards seize British flagged tanker; foreign secretary Hunt warns of serious consequences

  

  Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Friday they had seized a British-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz for breaking “international maritime rules” as tensions mount in the highly sensitive waterway.

• Saturday, July 20th 2019 - 11:43 UTC

  Pompeo in Buenos Aires at counter-terrorism summit offers US$ 7 million for info on Hezbollah leader

  

  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed on Friday in Argentina that the United States has imposed financial sanctions against a Hezbollah militant group leader suspected of directing a deadly bombing in 1994 of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and injured hundreds.

• Saturday, July 20th 2019 - 09:52 UTC

  Bolsonaro again denies Amazon deforestation and says Brazilian official data “I'm convinced, is a lie”

  

  Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday accused the state body responsible for tracking deforestation levels of disclosing false data, after preliminary numbers showed a dramatic rise in July.

• Saturday, July 20th 2019 - 09:50 UTC

  Strong contraction of Uruguay's economy: GDP forecasted to grow 0.6% this year

  

  Uruguay's Economy minister admitted on Friday that the country will end 2019 with a “very modest growth”, in the range of 0.6%, but was confident the economy would pick up in 2020 when the construction of a new pulp mill, with an investment of at least two billion dollars, is scheduled to start.

• Saturday, July 20th 2019 - 09:40 UTC

  US sanctions four Venezuela military officers for torturing to death a navy captain

  

  The United States on Friday stepped up its response following the death of a Venezuelan navy captain, sanctioning four top officials in Venezuela's military counterintelligence agency, the US Treasury Department said.

• Saturday, July 20th 2019 - 08:30 UTC

  Meeting in Buenos Aires of the Scientific Sub Committee of the South Atlantic Fisheries Commission

  

  The elected government of the Falkland Islands reported on Friday that the Scientific Sub Committee of the South Atlantic Fisheries Commission met in Buenos Aires on 17 and 18 July 2019. The SAFC was first established in 1990 and this was the third meeting to take place since the reestablishment of regular meetings in 2018.

• Saturday, July 20th 2019 - 08:11 UTC

  UK Full-blown recession in a no deal exit from the EU?

  

  Britain might be entering a full-blown recession that a no-deal exit from the European Union would compound, blowing a 30 billion-pound hole in the public finances, a budget watchdog said. The Office for Budget Responsibility said the economy probably flat-lined or might have contracted in the second quarter.

• Saturday, July 20th 2019 - 07:40 UTC

  Bolsonaro's 200-day administration stimulus package will be announced 24 July

  

  Brazil’s government is expected to detail its plans to release funds from the workers’ severance fund, known as FGTS, on July 24, the presidential chief of staff Bolsonaroaid. In a press conference organized to mark 200 days of Jair Bolsonaro’s administration, Lorenzoni added the government wants to make sure that the release of part of the assets in the workers’ funds will not hurt home financing. FGTS accounts for almost half of the funds allocated to the financing of homes in Brazil.

• Saturday, July 20th 2019 - 07:02 UTC

  UK Armed Forces expected to receive a 2.9% increase before PM May steps down

  

  Two million United Kingdom public service workers including the Armed Forces are reportedly set to be given a £2 billion pay rise. The Times reports that soldiers will receive an increase of 2.9%, while police officers and dentists/consultants will both receive a 2.5% pay rise.

• Friday, July 19th 2019 - 10:48 UTC

  Macri wants those behind the AMIA attack to be tried in Argentina

  

  Argentine President Mauricio Macri Thursday pledged to continue to seek that the people involved in the 1994 bombing of the Israeli Social Service Associacion (AMIA) “be tried in Argentine territory” to bring impunity to an end, once “the weight of the law has reached those responsible.”