Politics

• Monday, February 20th 2017 - 11:35 UTC

  World's most modern and largest yacht arrested in Gibraltar

  

  One of the world’s largest yachts has been arrested in Gibraltar over a €15.3m admiralty claim filed by the German shipyard that built it. The sleek, futuristic Sailing Yacht A attracted wide media attention when it sailed into port last week for what should have been a short refuelling stop.

• Monday, February 20th 2017 - 11:26 UTC

  Hundreds of migrants break into Spain's North Africa territories

  

  Almost 500 migrants forced their way into Spanish territory in North Africa by breaking through gates in the 20ft fence that separates Morocco from Spain’s Ceuta enclave.

• Monday, February 20th 2017 - 11:20 UTC

  EFTA/Mercosur talks confirmed to begin next June in Buenos Aires

  

  The first round of formal trade negotiations between Mercosur and EFTA, European Free Trade Association, is scheduled to take place in Buenos Aires next June according to information from Brussels where there was a preliminary encounter between the two sides. “It will be in June, and talks will be at chief negotiators level”, confirmed EFTA and Mercosur sources.

• Monday, February 20th 2017 - 10:56 UTC

  Spain's Rajoy insists with co-sovereignty for Gibraltar

  

  Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has defended his government’s co-sovereignty proposal for Gibraltar and reiterated that Spain will use Brexit to push its sovereignty aspirations over the Rock. Rajoy made the comments during a wide-ranging interview with Agence France Presse. “I think that our proposal of shared sovereignty is very reasonable,” he said.

• Monday, February 20th 2017 - 10:42 UTC

  Tony Blair proposes a cross-party movement to rethink Brexit: “ideologues are driving the bus”

  

  Tony Blair has called on pro-Europeans to form a new cross-party movement to persuade the public they were wrong to vote to leave the EU. In an impassioned speech, the former prime minister said “progressives” should make it their “mission” to reverse the outcome of the referendum last June.

• Monday, February 20th 2017 - 10:05 UTC

  Incumbent candidate leading in Ecuador election but run off seems inevitable

  

  Former Vice President Lenin Moreno, a leftist advocate for the disabled who was paralyzed in a 1998 robbery attempt, was leading in Ecuador’s presidential election Sunday, but was at risk of falling just short of avoiding a runoff on April 2. Moreno, 63, is the close ally of outgoing President Rafael Correa, under whom he served as vice president from 2007 to 2013.

• Monday, February 20th 2017 - 09:38 UTC

  Malcorra admits “very big difference” on the Falklands/Malvinas issue with UK

  

  Foreign minister Susana Malcorra admitted that the difference with the UK on the Falklands/Malvinas and sovereignty is “very big”, following her meeting with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on the sidelines of the International Security Conference which took place in Munich, Germany.

• Saturday, February 18th 2017 - 07:52 UTC

  Malcorra meets Boris Johnson; he apologizes for Darwin cemetery damages

  

  Argentine foreign minister Susana Malcorra met Friday morning with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in the framework of the G 20 ministerial summit which took place in the German city of Bonn. There was no official release on the meeting which apparently was brief.

• Saturday, February 18th 2017 - 07:15 UTC

  Brazil decommissioning its only aircraft carrier, Sao Paulo

  

  Brazil has decided to permanently sideline its sole aircraft carrier, the flat-top São Paulo. The Brazilian government has said the cost of updating the ship and purchasing new planes was prohibitive and will seek to replace them in the future. The decision underscores the point that aircraft carriers are a rich country's game.

• Saturday, February 18th 2017 - 06:55 UTC

  Brazilian military the most trusted institution, exempt from pensions' reform

  

  Ever so dependent on the Armed Forces to keep law and order, the Brazilian government has exempted the military from a far-reaching pension reform. Following Congress's approval of a public spending cap late last year, the government of President Michel Temer is pushing ahead with a broad pension reform as the next stage of its austerity agenda.