Politics

• Thursday, September 29th 2016 - 12:33 UTC

  Catalonia challenges Madrid and will hold an independence referendum next year

  

  Catalonia is to hold a referendum on independence in a year’s time in a move that will infuriate Madrid but which should also return power to the pro-indy campaign in the regional assembly. President Carles Puigdemont told the Catalan Parliament yesterday: “We will look for an agreement (with central government) until the very end, we will at every moment work with the will to hold a referendum in agreement with the state.

• Thursday, September 29th 2016 - 12:18 UTC

  Labour fully backs Gibraltar's self determination, says shadow foreign secretary

  

  Britain's Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry has said the Labour Party fully backs the Self Determination of the People of Gibraltar, and the Rock must continue to enjoy the benefits from its membership of the EU.

• Thursday, September 29th 2016 - 11:23 UTC

  Brazil central bank sees annual inflation targets within arm's reach

  

  Brazil's central bank expects annual inflation to ease below the government's 4.5% target in 2017 after years of hovering well above that goal, leaving the door open for cutting some of the world's highest interest rates as early as October. The bank also held its estimate for an economic contraction of 3.1% in 2016, but it expects the economy to grow 1.3% in 2017.

• Thursday, September 29th 2016 - 10:35 UTC

  One in three Argentines, 8.8 million live in poverty and 1.7 million are indigent

  

  Nearly one-third of Argentina’s population lives in poverty, the government said on Wednesday in the first official poverty data published in three years, underscoring the difficulty of reaching President Mauricio Macri’s stated “zero poverty” goal. The ranks of the poor surveyed in Argentina totaled 8.8 million people, or 32.2% of the population in 31 urban areas surveyed.

• Thursday, September 29th 2016 - 10:31 UTC

  Falklands' sovereignty talks, end objective of non binding joint statement, Argentine congress is told

  

  The 13th September joint statement between Argentina and the UK is a new bilateral convergence of common interests and the possibility, in the framework of a new dialogue and cooperation, of sovereignty discussions resumption on the Malvinas, South Georgia, South Sandwich islands and adjoining maritime spaces question, Argentine Deputy foreign minister Carlos Foradori told the Lower House Foreign Affairs committee during a summons on Wednesday.

• Thursday, September 29th 2016 - 09:07 UTC

  Sunday deadline for Falklands' competition open to university students

  

  This Sunday, October 2nd, ends the deadline to participate in the regional competition sponsored by the Falkland Islands government and the UK embassies in Uruguay, Brazil and Chile addressing the issue, “Why would I like to meet my neighbors from the Falkland Islands?” The competition is open to university students from the three countries and the prize is a weeklong trip to the Falkland Islands with all expenses paid.

• Wednesday, September 28th 2016 - 12:26 UTC

  Iran-Saudi Arabia can't agree on limiting oil supply: “maybe in November”

  

  Iran rejected on Tuesday an offer from Saudi Arabia to limit its oil output in exchange for Riyadh cutting supply, dashing market hopes the two major OPEC producers would find a compromise this week to help ease a global glut of crude.

• Wednesday, September 28th 2016 - 11:29 UTC

  North Ireland politicians win right to challenge Brexit based on Good Friday Agreement

  

  A cross party group of politicians in Northern Ireland have won the right to mount a legal challenge over Brexit. They argue the Good Friday Agreement and peace process means there must be a Parliamentary vote if Northern Ireland is to leave the EU.

• Wednesday, September 28th 2016 - 10:28 UTC

  No end to Petrobras spill: powerful couple (Senator and ex minister) indicted on corruption charges

  

  Brazilian Senator Gleisi Hoffmann and her husband, Paulo Bernardo Silva, who both served in the ousted government of former President Dilma Rousseff, were indicted on Tuesday by the Supreme Court on corruption and money laundering charges in the Petrobras graft investigation.

• Wednesday, September 28th 2016 - 10:17 UTC

  Trump embroiled in “Miss Piggy” misogynist controversy

  

  Alicia Machado says that when she gained weight after being crowned Miss Universe for 1996, Donald Trump labeled her with a sexist nickname — “Miss Piggy” — that caused her shame and humiliation. Two decades later, Machado’s dealings with Trump, her one-time beauty pageant boss, are reverberating through the 2016 campaign as the Republican businessman and reality TV star seeks the White House.