Politics

• Monday, January 6th 2014 - 06:36 UTC

  Falkland Islands: Tory MPs furious with Cameron over aid programs to Argentina

  

  Even when there has been no official reply from London to Argentina's message to mark the 181th anniversary (January 3) of what it considers “the usurpation of our Malvinas Islands”, there was a strong reaction from Tory MPs when it was revealed that UK contributes several million pounds in aid programs to Argentina.

• Sunday, January 5th 2014 - 14:48 UTC

  Malvinas Secretariat officially inaugurated on Monday with Filmus as head

  

  Argentine former senator Daniel Filmus on Monday afternoon will be inaugurated as head of the newly created Secretariat of Malvinas, South Georgia, South Sandwich Islands and adjoining maritime spaces in the South Atlantic Affairs, which will press forward with Argentine claims over those territories.

• Sunday, January 5th 2014 - 13:07 UTC

  Falklands looks to South America and Scotland to service its oil industry development

  

  Successful trade missions to Uruguay and Chile and the growing support and know-how links with Scotland for the development of the Falkland Islands oil and gas industry were mentioned as some of the 2013 highlights by Roger Spink, president of the Falklands Chamber of Commerce in his Christmas speech.

• Saturday, January 4th 2014 - 06:46 UTC

  Argentina sanctions power companies for repeated outages that affected millions

  

  Argentina announced sanctions on electricity companies Edesur and Edenor following the power outages suffered by hundreds of thousands of citizens in Buenos Aires City and surrounding areas, amid a historic heat wave that brought stifling temperatures for 18 days.

• Saturday, January 4th 2014 - 04:38 UTC

  Mantega releases crucial data to calm market anxiety about Brazil's accounts

  

  Brazil's Finance Minister Guido Mantega insisted on Friday that the government is keeping spending under control as he sought to calm anxiety about the deterioration of the government's accounts. The minister said the primary budget surplus, (excess of revenue over expenditure before debt payments) would be above the goal of 73 billion Brazilian Reais for 2013 (30.5bn dollars), equivalent to about 1.5% of gross domestic product.

• Friday, January 3rd 2014 - 23:41 UTC

  Malvinas: Argentina calls UK a lion that 'no longer frightens' and insists on dialogue

  

  In a long statement recalling the 181st anniversary of the 'usurpation of our Malvinas, South Georgia, South Sandwich Islands and the adjoining maritime spaces' (almost three million square kilometers) the Argentine Foreign ministry contrasts Buenos Aires peaceful, dialogue attitude with the verbal aggressiveness from British officials when referring to the Malvinas issue.

• Friday, January 3rd 2014 - 23:34 UTC

  Cristina Fernandez administration launches yet another price control program

  

  Argentina's government formally launched on Friday its latest price control program as double-digit inflation sets the stage for tense annual wage talks in coming months. The one-year program sets prices on 194 supermarket items including staples like milk, meat and pasta as well as discretionary items such as beer and ice cream.

• Friday, January 3rd 2014 - 23:25 UTC

  UK prepared to veto Spain's entry to the EC over Gibraltar restrictions in 1984/85

  

  British officials thought Spain could “not be trusted” to keep its promises to lift restrictions on Gibraltar prior to joining the European Community, according to declassified documents released to The National Archives.

• Friday, January 3rd 2014 - 23:21 UTC

  Brazil wants no surprises: creates elite force to support police during the World Cup

  

  Brazil has created a special riot force to help police control demonstrations expected during the World Cup later this year. Colonel Alexandre Augusto Aragon, who heads the elite National Security Force, was quoted in local news on Friday as saying that 10,000 riot troops selected from state police forces throughout Brazil will be deployed in the 12 cities hosting World Cup games June 12-July 13.

• Friday, January 3rd 2014 - 23:05 UTC

  Spain steps in to try to resolve cost dispute over Panama Canal expansion

  

  Spain stepped in on Friday to try to resolve a cost dispute over the expansion of Panama's canal, which has triggered a sell-off in the shares of Sacyr SA, the Spanish builder leading the project. Spain's Public Works minister, Ana Pastor, and Sacyr Chairman Manuel Manrique are due to travel to Panama on the weekend, Panama's president, Ricardo Martinelli, said.