Politics

• Wednesday, September 3rd 2014 - 05:55 UTC

  Australia scraps contested mining tax; major win for Abbot's conservatives

  

  Australia on Tuesday agreed to scrap a contested resources profits tax after the government struck a surprise deal with crossbench senators, including mining tycoon Clive Palmer. The Minerals Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) was introduced by the previous Labor administration in 2012, with a levy on annual profits above 70 million dollars on iron ore and coal at a rate of 30%.

• Wednesday, September 3rd 2014 - 05:36 UTC

  Spain's unemployment remains stubbornly high: 4.5 million in August

  

  A total of 8,070 people joined Spain's jobless queues in August, the first rise in unemployment after six months of improvement, official figures released on Tuesday show. The rise means there were 4,427,930 Spaniards registered as looking for work at the country's unemployment offices at the end of August, Spain's employment ministry figures show.

• Wednesday, September 3rd 2014 - 05:26 UTC

  UK and Germany main beneficiaries of Spain's brain drain

  

  Spain is among the European countries hardest hit by the so-called 'brain drain' effect with thousands of professionals including nurses and teachers taking steps to leave the country in recent years, new figures from the European Union show.

• Tuesday, September 2nd 2014 - 22:45 UTC

  Argentina/Brazil bilateral trade drops to 2010 level. Auto industry hardest hit

  

  Bilateral trade between Mercosur leading partners Argentina and Brazil plummeted 27.6% in August and 22% in the last twelve months, according to Buenos Aires consultants, Abeceb. Recession in Brazil plus strict Argentine trade restrictions and slower domestic demand has contributed to the results.

• Tuesday, September 2nd 2014 - 08:40 UTC

  Bachelet announces stimuli program for the foundering Chilean economy

  

  President Michelle Bachelet presented on Monday a 500 million dollars emergency plan to try and rejuvenate Chile's slowing economy via investment promotion. She added that half of the anticipated funding will come from adjustments to the budget while the rest will come from greater structural income from a tax reform that Congress is expected to approve soon

• Tuesday, September 2nd 2014 - 08:36 UTC

  Dragui and Hollande agree to spur demand and head off the risk of deflation

  

  French President Francois Hollande and Mario Draghi the head of the European Central Bank (ECB) have agreed that European demand must be lifted to head off a risk of deflation, French officials said.

• Tuesday, September 2nd 2014 - 07:43 UTC

  Falklands/Malvinas issue to be addressed by Mercosur parliament 11 November

  

  The Mercosur Parliament, Parlasur will be holding a special session next 11 November in Montevideo dedicated to the Falklands/Malvinas Islands sovereignty issue, it was announced this Monday in Buenos Aires during a visit of a delegation from the regional legislative to the Argentine congress.

• Tuesday, September 2nd 2014 - 07:19 UTC

  UK announces plans to strip suspected Islamist militants of their passports

  

  UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced plans to strip suspected Islamist militants of their passports temporarily, to combat the threat posed by radicalized Britons returning from Syria and Iraq.

• Tuesday, September 2nd 2014 - 07:01 UTC

  Controversy in Uruguay over transfer of Guantanamo prisoners, before or after October election

  

  US ambassador in Montevideo, Julissa Reynoso said that Washington “does not impose a date” for the transfer and arrival of the Guantanamo prison detainees to be accepted by Uruguay, but admitted that the ideal would be for this to happen before the end of President Jose Mujica's mandate next March first.

• Tuesday, September 2nd 2014 - 06:57 UTC

  Interreligious soccer match had Maradona as one of the outstanding stars

  

  Diego Maradona and Roberto Baggio were among a host of former soccer stars who played in an interreligious charity match backed by Pope Francis on Monday night. The Argentine pope, an avid soccer fan, did not attend the match but had an audience with both teams earlier in the day and also broadcast a message on the big screens at Rome's Olympic Stadium ahead of kickoff.