Politics

• Tuesday, March 17th 2015 - 07:32 UTC

  Prince Harry leaves armed forces after a decade of service including tours in Afghanistan

  

  Britain's Prince Harry announced on Monday that he will leave the armed forces after a decade of service that included two tours of duty in Afghanistan. Queen Elizabeth's 30-year-old grandson, the fourth-in-line to the throne, said he would quit the military in June following a four-week secondment with the Australian Defense Force.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2015 - 07:23 UTC

  Griesa rejects Citigroup petition to allow payment of bonds issued under Argentine law

  

  New York district judge Thomas Griesa has declined a request from the Citigroup bank to allow the entity to process the payment of Argentine bonds under local law while an appeal against the magistrate's negative ruling is being prepared.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2015 - 07:18 UTC

  More former Petrobras top officials arrested on money laundering investigation

  

  Brazilian police arrested a former Petrobras executive on Monday, in a broad kickback and money laundering investigation that has rattled some of the nation's biggest companies and political parties.

• Tuesday, March 17th 2015 - 07:07 UTC

  Mexican star journalist sacked for revealing origin of First Lady’s mansion

  

  An influential Mexican broadcast journalist whose report about the first lady's mansion caused a scandal was sacked on Sunday, sparking anger among supporters who called her firing an affront to freedom of speech. Carmen Aristegui had been publicly feuding with her employer, MVS Radio, in recent days after two of her investigative reporters were fired by the company.

• Monday, March 16th 2015 - 11:00 UTC

  Peaceful massive protests against Rousseff on Sunday throughout Brazil

  

  Over one million demonstrators marched in cities and towns across Brazil to protest a sluggish economy, rising prices and corruption, and some even calling for the impeachment of populist President Dilma Rousseff. The marches on Sunday come as Brazil struggles to overcome economic and political malaise and pick up the pieces of a boom that crumbled once Rousseff took office in 2011.

• Monday, March 16th 2015 - 10:48 UTC

  President Maduro will rule the rest of the year with decree powers

  

  Venezuela's parliament has granted President Nicolas Maduro decree powers for the rest of 2015 in a move he says is to defend the country from US meddling but opponents decry as evidence of autocracy. In a noisy National Assembly session, ruling Socialist Party legislators, who have a majority, applauded the “Enabling Law” as a legitimate response to a US declaration that Venezuela is a security threat and sanctions on seven officials.

• Monday, March 16th 2015 - 10:39 UTC

  Israel newspaper questions Nisman’s accusations against Cristina Fernandez and Timerman

  

  Israeli newspaper Haaretz has published an article questioning the criminal accusation filed by late AMIA prosecutor Alberto Nisman against Argentine President Cristina Fernández and Foreign minister Hector Timerman, while asserting that the official's handling of the case was far from exemplary.

• Monday, March 16th 2015 - 10:25 UTC

  UK caught on the wrong side in a US/Beijing dispute over Chinese development bank

  

  The US has expressed concern over the UK's bid to become a founding member of a Chinese-backed development bank. The UK is the first big Western economy to apply for membership of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) despite the fact that US has raised questions over the bank's commitment to international standards on governance.

• Monday, March 16th 2015 - 10:16 UTC

  EU also interested in close relations with Cuba; top European official expected in Havana

  

  European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has announced she will visit Cuba later this month. Ms Mogherini said Cuba was facing a very interesting period and the EU wanted to build on the momentum to “take the relationship forward”.

• Monday, March 16th 2015 - 10:08 UTC

  Unasur calls on the US to revoke measures against Venezuela and implement dialogue

  

  The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) slammed the United States for its decision to label Venezuela as a security threat and impose sanctions against a number of its officials, calling on Washington to revoke the measure.