Politics

• Wednesday, April 15th 2015 - 07:53 UTC

  IMF estimates Argentine economy will contract 0.3% this year and expand 0.1% in 2016

  

  The International Monetary Fund, IMF, cut its growth estimates for Argentina for this year forecasting a 0.3% contraction followed by a shy recovery of 0.1% in 2016, the first post-Kirchner year. The data is from the IMF World Economic Outlook released on Tuesday in Washington.

• Wednesday, April 15th 2015 - 07:46 UTC

  Brazil's economy expected to contract 1% as challenges remain unaddressed, says IMF report

  

  The International Monetary Fund expects Brazil's economy to contract by one percent this year, it said Tuesday, slashing its previous forecast of 0.3% growth. The world's seventh-largest economy is being hit by inflation, private-sector doldrums and a massive corruption scandal at state oil giant Petrobras, the IMF said in its latest forecast.

• Wednesday, April 15th 2015 - 07:28 UTC

  Cuba to be removed from terror sponsors' list, announced President Obama

  

  The White House announced on Tuesday that President Obama intends to remove Cuba from the US government's list of nations that sponsor terrorism, eliminating a major obstacle to the restoration of diplomatic relations after decades of hostilities. The decision to remove Cuba from the list represents a crucial step in Obama’s effort to turn the page on a Cold War-era dispute.

• Tuesday, April 14th 2015 - 22:39 UTC

  UN extends to actor Daniel Craig “licence to save” as first advocate for elimination of landmines

  

  The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on Tuesday the designation of renowned actor Daniel Craig as the first UN Global Advocate for the Elimination of Mines and Explosive Hazards. In a brief ceremony held at UN Headquarters, the Secretary-General thanked Mr. Craig for his commitment to support the UN’s vision of a world free from the threat of landmines and explosive remnants of war.

• Tuesday, April 14th 2015 - 11:49 UTC

  Falklands oil explorers replace costly drilling in the south-east basin

  

  Three oil explorers drilling in the Falkland Islands, including Houston based Noble Energy have shelved plans to drill a second well in the south and east Falklands following the steep drop in oil prices, one of the partners said on Monday. Partners, which also include London-listed Falkland Oil and Gas (FOGL) and Edison International, said they would continue drilling in other parts of the region.

• Tuesday, April 14th 2015 - 11:42 UTC

  Argentina's Chief Justice urges “end to impunity” and peoples' frustration

  

  Argentina's Chief Justice Ricardo Lorenzetti called on the judges and prosecutors to make a greater effort towards a transparent society and urged for an “end to impunity” and peoples' frustrations with the court system. He was speaking in reference to the ongoing investigation into special prosecutor's Alberto Nisman's death on 18 January.

• Tuesday, April 14th 2015 - 11:29 UTC

  Cuban-American Senator Rubio launches 2016 campaign for the White House

  

  US Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio launched his presidential campaign at a rally on Monday in Miami, calling for a new era of American leadership that is not “stuck in the 20th century.”

• Tuesday, April 14th 2015 - 11:19 UTC

  Germany's greatest post WWII writer and Nobel Prize winner dies at 87

  

  German novelist Günter Grass, the Nobel Prize-winning author of “The Tin Drum”, an epic treatment of the Nazi era, on Monday at the age of 87, his publishers said. A broad-shouldered man with a drooping mustache, Grass spurned the German tradition of keeping a cool intellectual distance, insisting that a writer's duty was to be at the frontline of moral and political debate.

• Tuesday, April 14th 2015 - 10:03 UTC

  Intellectual icon of Latin America's left in the seventies and eighties dies in Montevideo

  

  Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano, whose The Open Veins of Latin America became a classic text for the left in the region and propelled the author to fame, died on Monday at age 74. Galeano had been ill with lung cancer for several months.

• Monday, April 13th 2015 - 09:08 UTC

  Hundreds of thousands take to the streets of Brazil to protest against Rousseff

  

  Hundreds of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets on Sunday, venting anger over government corruption and a souring economy a month after protests gathered more than a million people. With cries of “Dilma out” and “corrupt government,” marchers -- many wearing the yellow and green jerseys of the national football team -- called for President Dilma Rousseff's ouster and an end to impunity for corruption.