Politics

• Monday, May 30th 2016 - 09:16 UTC

  US top official expected in Uruguay and Brazil

  

  Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Mari Carmen Aponte will travel to Montevideo, Uruguay, May 31-June 2 to lead the United States delegation at the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Americas Regional Meeting.

• Monday, May 30th 2016 - 07:48 UTC

  At the 100th anniversary of Verdun, Hollande and Merkel appeal to unity

  

  French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed on Sunday for Europe to unite to face its current challenges as they marked the 100th anniversary of Verdun, the longest battle of World War I. The 300 days of fighting in northeast France were one of the bloodiest battles of the war, claiming more than 300,000 lives before France emerged victorious.

• Monday, May 30th 2016 - 07:36 UTC

  Venezuela's public sector will only work Mondays and Tuesdays for another two weeks

  

  Venezuela's government on Saturday extended by two weeks a decree reducing the public sector workweek to Mondays and Tuesdays in a bid to tackle the oil-rich country's electricity crisis. The enforced leave was first announced in late April, a drastic move for a government also grappling with an economic crisis that has Venezuelans queuing for hours to buy scarce supplies.

• Monday, May 30th 2016 - 07:13 UTC

  Chilean rescue of Shackleton's crew from Elephant Island marked at British residence

  

  A networking reception was held in the British residence on Wednesday 25 May to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the rescue by the Chilean pilot Luis Pardo, of the Armada de Chile, of Ernest Shackleton’s crew from Elephant Island.

• Monday, May 30th 2016 - 07:03 UTC

  Australia enforces low sulfur fuel regulations: Carnival cruise fined

  

  Australia’s Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has fined Carnival PLC US$15,000 after one of its P&O Cruises ships, the Pacific Jewel, breached new low sulfur fuel regulations in Sydney Harbor. A fuel sample taken by the ship’s crew and provided to EPA officers while the ship was berthed at the White Bay Cruise Terminal on February 26, 2016 had a sulfur level of 0.293%, nearly three times the 0.1% sulfur limit.

• Monday, May 30th 2016 - 06:49 UTC

  Petrobras faces “tens of billions of dollars” in claims in US court; trial opens in September

  

  Petrobras will finally get its day in a U.S. court on Sept. 19 in a trial that pits 18 former executives and 13 investment banks, including J.P. Morgan Securities, against U.S. and U.K. investors. Claimants are seeking “tens of billions of dollars” in losses from the Brazilian oil and gas giant.

• Sunday, May 29th 2016 - 14:28 UTC

  World health experts call for Rio Olympics to be postponed or moved given Zika spread fears

  

  More than 100 health experts have called for the Rio Olympic Games to be postponed or moved because of fears that the event could speed up the spread of the Zika virus around the world, according to a public letter published online.

• Sunday, May 29th 2016 - 12:58 UTC

  Chile has cleared 140 of 194 minefields; by 2020 the territory should entirely free

  

  Chile has cleared 72% of minefields in its territory, and expects to have finished the task by March 2020, according to the head of the country's De-mining Committee Army Colonel Rodrigo Ventura.

• Saturday, May 28th 2016 - 08:25 UTC

  Net migration to UK, 333.000 in 2015, provides more ammo to the Leave campaign

  

  Campaigners wanting Britain to leave the European Union warned that immigration has “spun out of control”, as the new mayor of London launched his campaign for the country to stay in the bloc. Four weeks before the so-called Brexit referendum on June 23, the Office for National Statistics published data putting net migration - the difference between those arriving and leaving Britain - at 333,000 last year.

• Saturday, May 28th 2016 - 08:04 UTC

  Operation Condor condemns Argentine ex dictator and 14 top military officers

  

  Former Argentine dictator Reynaldo Bignone and 14 other ex-military officials were found guilty by an Argentine court on Friday of conspiring to kidnap and assassinate leftist dissidents as part of the Operation Condor program. Bignone, 88, the highest ranking figure on trial, was sentenced to 20 years in jail. Fourteen of the remaining 16 defendants got eight to 25 years behind bars. Two were found not guilty.