Politics

• Monday, May 5th 2014 - 07:24 UTC

  Varela wins Panama election, defeats Martinelli's incumbent candidate

  

  Panama’s Electoral Committee declared opposition candidate Juan Carlos Varela as the winner of Sunday's election and the country's next president: he captured 39% of the vote with more than 80% of ballots counted. In Panama there is no run-off and no re-election so president Ricardo Martinelli nominated his successor and completed the ticket with his wife, Marta Linares de Martinelli.

• Monday, May 5th 2014 - 06:52 UTC

  London concerned Spanish actions against Gibraltar are damaging bilateral relations

  

  The British Government has again voiced public concern that Spanish actions against Gibraltar are damaging its bilateral relationship with Spain. In a response to a parliamentary question in the House of Commons, Europe Minister David Lidington said Britain was keeping its options open on how to respond to Spain.

• Monday, May 5th 2014 - 06:47 UTC

  West will never go to war over non-NATO Ukraine

  

  By Gwynne Dyer - With due apologies to God, Voltaire and the Ukrainians, I must point out that if Ukraine did not exist, it would not be necessary to invent it.It is not a great power, it has no resources the world cannot do without, and it is not a “vital strategic interest” to anybody except the Ukrainians. Not even to the Russians, although they are acting at the moment as though it were.

• Monday, May 5th 2014 - 06:24 UTC

  “Least difficult phase of economic growth is now over”, IMF top official tells Latam

  

  IMF Director for the Western Hemisphere Department Alejandro Werner has once again called on Latin America to embark upon economic reforms, claiming that the “least difficult” phase of economic growth is now over.

• Saturday, May 3rd 2014 - 06:30 UTC

  Licensed pharmacies in Uruguay will sell marihuana at a dollar a gram

  

  Uruguayan authorities have revealed how marijuana will be produced and sold legally in the country following the approval of the bill last December. Licensed pharmacies will sell the drug for approximately one US dollar a gram with consumers allowed 40g a month.

• Saturday, May 3rd 2014 - 06:29 UTC

  Falkland Islander running for mayor of a Santa Cruz town

  

  A Falkland Islander, resident in Argentina is running for mayor of the city of Puerto Santa Cruz, in Patagonia's Santa Cruz province, which is the Kirchner's couple political turf. James Lewis is backing Eduardo Costa from the opposition Radical party, the current mayor of the small town of 3.500 people, who next year is confident can become the province's next governor.

• Saturday, May 3rd 2014 - 06:18 UTC

  Uruguay interested in joining negotiations to liberalize trade in services

  

  Uruguay has expressed an interest in actively participating in negotiations to liberalize trade in services in the framework of TISA, Trade in Services Agreement which recently held its seventh round of talks in Geneva.

• Saturday, May 3rd 2014 - 06:11 UTC

  Cristina's YPF curse: Brufau steps down as CEO of Repsol

  

  Repsol, the Spanish oil company, announced this week that its longstanding executive chairman, Antonio Brufau, would hand over the job of chief executive to Josu Jon Imaz San Miguel, who has been running the company’s upstream operations.

• Saturday, May 3rd 2014 - 05:58 UTC

  Falklands or Malvinas: uproar in Argentina with YPF tourist guide

  

  The internet tourist guide from Argentina's nationalized oil and gas company YPF describes the Malvinas as Falklands, Puerto Argentino as Stanley, and Isla Gran Malvina as West Falkland, claim several Argentine media.

• Saturday, May 3rd 2014 - 05:48 UTC

  President Putin re-editing Soviet-Stalin Russia calendar and traditions

  

  Russia staged a huge May Day parade on Moscow's Red Square for the first time since the Soviet era with workers holding banners proclaiming support for President Vladimir Putin after the seizure of territory from neighboring Ukraine.