Politics

• Monday, May 28th 2018 - 07:01 UTC

  “Institutional crisis” in Italy: the Euro at the heart of the powers dispute

  

  The leader of Italy's biggest political party has called for the president to be impeached after he vetoed a choice for finance minister. Luigi Di Maio of the populist Five Star Party said President Sergio Mattarella had caused an “institutional crisis”.

• Monday, May 28th 2018 - 06:46 UTC

  Brazilian government yields to demands of truckers week-long strike

  

  Brazil's President Michel Temer announced late on Sunday new measures to reduce operating costs for truckers in a bid to end a week-long protest that has severely hampered the flow of food, fuel and key exports in Latin America's largest economy.

• Monday, May 28th 2018 - 06:19 UTC

  Colombian election: clear cut right and left candidates will dispute the 17 June runoff

  

  Colombia’s left and right will be holding a runoff to compete for the presidency in June after hard-line conservative Ivan Duque and ex-guerrilla Gustavo Petro scooped most of the votes in the first round of Sunday elections.<br />
  The second vote will take place on June 17, which could see Colombia's already fragile peace deal with the FARC guerrillas shaken.

• Saturday, May 26th 2018 - 18:23 UTC

  'Storms' and arrests among Venezuelan Armed Forces; more tortures and political prisoners

  

  After the presidential election in Venezuela on May 20, in which President Nicolás Maduro was re-elected, a wave of arrests has been reported among Venezuelan military in several parts of the country. As well as releases and new arrests of civilians and soldiers for political reasons.

• Saturday, May 26th 2018 - 09:15 UTC

  Colombia's presidential election: another referendum on the peace deal?

  

  On Sunday, Colombians will head to the polls to elect a new president. At play in this year’s election are a range of issues: Venezuelan migration, economic situation, rampant corruption, high levels of inequality, but above all is the country's historic peace accord that ended over half a century of armed conflict.

• Saturday, May 26th 2018 - 09:13 UTC

  Landslide victory to legalize abortion in Ireland, according to exit polls

  

  Ireland has voted by a landslide margin to change the constitution so that abortion can be legalized, according to an exit poll conducted for The Irish Times by Ipsos/MRBI.

• Saturday, May 26th 2018 - 09:00 UTC

  Truckers strike crippling Brazil, despite authorization to use military force to clear highways

  

  A truckers protest over diesel prices that has crippled key sectors of Latin America's biggest economy dragged into Friday night, putting drivers in a standoff with Brazilian President Michel Temer who authorized military force to clear highways. The protest will stretch into its sixth day on Saturday.

• Saturday, May 26th 2018 - 08:54 UTC

  Argentine church independence message: sigh of relief for embattled Macri

  

  A sigh of relief from Argentine president Mauricio Macri and his administration following on Friday's Tedeum by the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, which marks the Church' message on May 25, the symbolic celebration of the first independence efforts during the 1810 Revolution.

• Saturday, May 26th 2018 - 08:46 UTC

  Countdown for Rajoy's government: call for fresh elections

  

  Spanish opposition parties have launched a fierce campaign to end the conservative government of Mariano Rajoy after courts ruled that his Partido Popular profited from a large kickbacks-for-contracts scheme. The Socialist opposition announced a vote of no confidence against the prime minister with the backing of anti-establishment and left-wing parties, while the pro-business Ciudadanos (Citizens) – which had supported the conservative minority government until now – urged Mr Rajoy to call a fresh election.

• Saturday, May 26th 2018 - 08:39 UTC

  Brexit talks in Brussels lead to strong exchanges with Chancellor Hammond

  

  Chancellor Philip Hammond has criticized claims from European Union officials that Britain has a “fantasy” approach to Brexit negotiations. Mr Hammond insisted that talks with EU officials were “constructive” after reports from the continent that Britain was being “unrealistic” and little progress made in discussions in recent days.