Politics

• Monday, December 5th 2016 - 11:31 UTC

  EU sigh of relief: Austria votes for independent, rejects anti migrant candidate

  

  Independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen, a pro-EU left wing who preached moderation, has won Austria's presidential election on Sunday over right-wing populist Norbert Hofer. A former leading member of the Green Party, Van der Bellen was the hope of Austrians who wanted to stop Hofer, a leader of the anti migrant and anti EU Freedom Party.

• Monday, December 5th 2016 - 10:53 UTC

  Italy's Rienzi resigns following rejection of his proposed constitutional reforms

  

  Italian voters have dealt a serious defeat to the government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. In a referendum Sunday, they rejected Renzi's proposed constitutional reforms, which would have changed the balance of power between the executive and Parliament.

• Monday, December 5th 2016 - 10:49 UTC

  New Zealand Prime minister steps down after eight years in office

  

  New Zealand Prime Minister John Key surprised his country, announcing that he would be resigning in a week's time. Key, who is also leader of the National Party, made his decision public at a press conference on Monday local time.

• Monday, December 5th 2016 - 08:30 UTC

  Falklands: Argentine diplomats in Geneva for talks on identifying remains of soldiers at Darwin cemetery

  

  Diplomats from the Malvinas Desk of the Argentine Foreign ministry have travelled to Geneva for crucial meetings later this week with their British, Falklands counterparts and Red Cross members to reach a definitive agreement on the DNA tests for the identification of the remains of Argentine combatants buried in the Darwin cemetery, following the 1982 conflict, reports Clarin.

• Monday, December 5th 2016 - 08:20 UTC

  “La Sanmaritiniana” reaches Puerto Deseado and is greeted by militant from a radical group

  

  The Argentine registered vessel “La Sanmartiniana” is reported to have reached Puerto Deseado, Santa Cruz province on Sunday, following a full week's sailing from Stanley, where it had left on Sunday 27 November. Militants and local authorities lined up at the port to celebrate her arrival.

• Sunday, December 4th 2016 - 11:14 UTC

  Anniversary of the Battle of the Falkland Islands

  

  Falkland Islands elected government has announced the following program for Thursday 8th December 2016 to commemorate the victory of the Naval engagements of 8th December 1914, on which day 6 British sailors lost their lives and a number of others died later from injuries received during the battle. 2,260 German sailors also lost their lives.

• Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 09:33 UTC

  Evo says he didn't know LAMIA was Bolivian, but flew doomed aircraft a fortnight before

  

  Bolivian President Evo Morales Friday admitted that LAMIA's general manager Gustavo Vargas Gamboa used to be one of his pilots but added that he did not know what he was working as after his retirement from the Air Force. He even denied knowing LAMIA was operating under Bolivian registration. A LAMIA British Aerospace 146 - RJ 85 crashed Monday night in Medellín, Colombia, killing 71 people onboard including five Bolivian nationals, although most victims were from the Brazilian Chapecoense football club.

• Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 09:27 UTC

  'Cuban' Maradona warns Macri might not make it past Christmas Day

  

  Argentine retired football player Diego Maradona, in Cuba to attend the funerals of his friend and former revolutionary leader Fidel Catro, hinted that should the people of his country choose to take to the streets, President Mauricio Macri might not be in office by Christmas.

• Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 09:19 UTC

  Venezuela suspended from Mercosur - Maduro's Foreign Minister says it did not happen

  

  The founding Mercosur countries Friday suspended Venezuela from full membership of the free-trade bloc in view of its failure to adjust its domestic regulations to economic agreements and human rights and immigration guidelines and principles that are mandatory to all the other members.

• Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 08:03 UTC

  Beppe Grillo, Italy's Donald Trump: “I say NO”

  

  By Gwynne Dyer - “Today saying No is the most beautiful and glorious form of politics....Whoever doesn't understand that can go screw themselves.” It could have been Donald Trump before the US election two weeks ago, or Boris Johnson during the Brext campaign in Britain last June, but it was actually Beppe Grillo, founder and leader of Italy's populist Five Star Movement.