Politics

• Friday, February 13th 2015 - 09:16 UTC

  “Drastic decline” in media freedom worldwide in 2014 says RSF annual report

  

  Media freedom suffered a “drastic decline” worldwide last year in part because of extremist groups such as Islamic State and Boko Haram, the watchdog group Reporters Without Borders said in its annual evaluation released Thursday.

• Friday, February 13th 2015 - 04:13 UTC

  Brazilian congress ignores Rousseff's call for spending cuts

  

  Brazil's Congress passed legislation on Tuesday that limits the president's ability to reduce pork-barrel spending passed by lawmakers, a setback for President Dilma Rousseff's efforts to fight a fiscal deficit.

• Friday, February 13th 2015 - 04:03 UTC

  Clashes and tear gas in Venezuela on the anniversary of students' revolt

  

  Venezuelan police fired tear gas Thursday to break up students demonstrating against President Nicolas Maduro's government, on the anniversary of protests that eventually left 43 people dead last year.

• Friday, February 13th 2015 - 03:45 UTC

  Nisman's former wife urges “ethical, balanced and responsible” approach to the investigation

  

  The ex-wife of late AMIA special investigator Alberto Nisman, judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado, has called for a more responsible treatment of the prosecutor's death, speaking out against those who tried to “politicize” events at an audience held on Thursday in the Argentine Senate.

• Thursday, February 12th 2015 - 21:04 UTC

  Argentine church says child malnutrition stats manipulated; blames corruption and indifference

  

  Argentina's Catholic church warned that the official data on child malnutrition is 'manipulated' to avoid responsibility and rejected the official government argument that the death of some children because of nutrition problems are 'isolated cases'. The statement follows the surfacing of children's deaths of aborigines communities in northern Argentina.

• Thursday, February 12th 2015 - 20:57 UTC

  Argentina and Brazil admit trade disagreements between Mercosur main partners

  

  Argentina and Brazil failed to reach an agreement to help unlock the ongoing tension between the two key Mercosur allies over bilateral trade. Argentina's Hector Timerman and his counterpart Mauro Vieira met in Buenos Aires to try and ease Brazil’s growing concerns about restrictions on the flow of goods, but any decisions were pushed forward to an undetermined date.

• Thursday, February 12th 2015 - 06:38 UTC

  Argentine administration counterattacks US media on Nisman's case

  

  Argentina's Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said that the death of AMIA special prosecutor Alberto Nisman is being “used to attack the government” in an interview with the Washington Post. Meanwhile Argentina's Ambassador to the US Cecilia Nahon wrote a letter to the Post’s editor stating that “Argentina seeks only justice in 1994 bombing case.”

• Thursday, February 12th 2015 - 06:25 UTC

  Argentine industry fearful of some clauses in agreements signed with China

  

  Argentina's top officials will meet on Thursday with representatives from the Argentine Industrial Union, UIA, to discuss some clauses and aspects of the recent agreements signed between China and Argentina last week, and which have been questioned by the manufacturers' lobby.

• Thursday, February 12th 2015 - 06:18 UTC

  Bachelet under fire because of her son's privileged access to funding for real estate speculation

  

  Chilean President Michelle Bachelet is coming under fire with complaints her family got privileged access to a bank loan for a land deal. Chile’s Que Pasa magazine reported that a company half-owned by Bachelet’s daughter-in-law, Natalia Compagnon, received a 10 million dollars loan from Banco de Chile during the 2013 presidential campaign.

• Thursday, February 12th 2015 - 06:02 UTC

  Holdouts open new front in dispute with Argentina: officials dramatic increase in their personal wealth

  

  US holders of defaulted Argentine bonds have stepped up their campaign for full repayment of their loans by detailing how 14 senior Argentine officials experienced “dramatic and often unexplained increases” in their personal wealth during service in the Kirchner administrations.