Politics

• Saturday, February 6th 2016 - 07:00 UTC

  Argentina close to a full agreement with holdouts: US$ 6.5bn offer to end the litigation

  

  Argentina offered a $6.5 billion cash payment to creditors suing the country over defaulted bonds on Friday, seeking to end an exhausting 14-year legal battle, “the sovereign debt trial of the century”, that transformed the country into a financial markets pariah. Two out of six leading bondholders have already accepted the offer, the U.S. court-appointed mediator said, hailing the proposal by Argentina's new, business-friendly government as an “historic breakthrough”.

• Saturday, February 6th 2016 - 06:22 UTC

  Falklands' population in 'constrictive' trend, says Argentine team on the field

  

  The Falklands' population composition can be described as 'constrictive' since there is a tendency to ageing in the population pyramid, in other words there are more elderly people than children. Comments belong to a member of an Argentine team of geography and migration experts from a university in Santa Fe province (Universidad Nacional del Litoral, UNL), who have been granted scholarships to collect such data from the Islands, based on a project the team presented.

• Saturday, February 6th 2016 - 05:36 UTC

  UK will contest UN opinion on 'arbitrary detention' of Julian Assange

  

  The United Kingdom will formally contest the opinion of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention that Julian Assange is a victim of arbitrary detention. From Stockholm Swedish prosecution said the UN ruling had no formal impact into an ongoing rape investigation against the WikiLeak's founder.

• Saturday, February 6th 2016 - 05:33 UTC

  Africa's decisive 54 votes pledged to Sheikh Salam's bid for FIFA presidency

  

  The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is backing Sheikh Salman in the Bahraini royal’s bid to replace Sepp Blatter as FIFA president. Africa’s 54 members represent a large portion of the total of 209 FIFA voters who are eligible to cast a ballot. Not surprisingly, it’s believed that the candidate who gets the support of Africa will be a big favorite.

• Saturday, February 6th 2016 - 05:31 UTC

  Brazil's inflation at 12-year high in January driven by food and transportation prices

  

  Brazil's inflation rate rose to a 12-year high, officials said on Friday, as Latin America's largest economy continues to struggle through a protracted recession. Driven by rising food prices, the annual inflation rate hit 10.71%, the highest since November 2003 and well beyond the central bank's target ceiling of 6.5%, said national statistics institute IBGE.

• Friday, February 5th 2016 - 08:22 UTC

  Strong support message from S&Ps for Argentina's economic reforms

  

  Standard & Poor's ratings agency says that Argentina’s new administration has presented a credible plan to deal with long-standing macroeconomic imbalances, eliminated foreign-exchange restrictions, and begun negotiations with its holdout creditors. The outlook on the local currency rating is stable, reflecting the new economic policies of the Administration, but also the potential difficulties in passing and implementing those plans.

• Friday, February 5th 2016 - 08:04 UTC

  Falklands: Contractual dispute with rig company raises speculation over drilling program

  

  The Falkland Islands government would not permit anything less than full and proper abandonment of exploration wells drilled by any operator in the Falkland Islands, stated Director of Mineral Resources Stephen Luxton this week, following news of a contractual dispute between Premier Oil and Ocean Rig over the drilling rig Eirik Raude.

• Friday, February 5th 2016 - 07:46 UTC

  Brazil's 'corrupt' government hurting business and agriculture, says Agco CEO

  

  Brazil's “corrupt” government is hurting the country's business sector, including in agriculture, the head of one of the world's biggest tractor-makers said. Martin Richenhagen, chairman and CEO of Agco, manufacturer of Fendt, Massey Ferguson and Valtra machinery, claimed he tried, and failed, to persuade Brazil's government to speed up the payment of agriculture support programs used by farmers for funding equipment purchases.

• Friday, February 5th 2016 - 07:35 UTC

  Argentina's main opposition force will attempt unity with party elections on May 8

  

  Argentina's main political force, Peronism, under the Justicialista party banner, announced that the party's elections will be held on 8 May, while the members of the electoral board set to oversee the election would be chosen during a meeting in Buenos Aires on February 24.

• Friday, February 5th 2016 - 07:31 UTC

  TPP Agreement bad for democracy, rights, public services and health, says ITUC

  

  The ITUC has called the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) a major setback for employment and workers’ rights prospects, and signaled the determination of unions in TPP countries to oppose it. After five years of secret negotiations, twelve Asia/Pacific-Rim Ministers signed the agreement today in Auckland, New Zealand, amid strong criticism from trade unions and other civil society organisations.