Politics

• Wednesday, March 12th 2014 - 07:49 UTC

  Ecuador's Lasso Mendoza elected chair of the 2014 Decolonization Committee

  

  Ecuador' Xavier Lasso Mendoza was elected by 'acclamation' as Chair of the 2014 session of the Special Committee on Decolonization together with Rodolfo Reyes Rodríguez (Cuba), Vandi Chidi Minah (Sierra Leone) and Desra Percaya (Indonesia), as Vice-Chairs, and Bashar Ja’afari (Syria), as Rapporteur, according to the UN release.

• Wednesday, March 12th 2014 - 07:43 UTC

  “Encouraging signs of rejuvenation” from the UN Decolonization Committee

  

  For the first time in many years, the UN decolonization unit held several meetings with each of the four administering powers: United Kingdom, France, New Zealand and the United States, as well as various other “stakeholders”, in order to identify next steps in the decolonization process.

• Wednesday, March 12th 2014 - 07:28 UTC

  Brazil car production up in February but sales dropped in the two months

  

  Motor vehicle production in Brazil surged in February after auto workers returned from vacations, but production remains below levels seen in 2013 and sales have also dropped in the first two months of the year.

• Wednesday, March 12th 2014 - 07:22 UTC

  Unasur foreign ministers expected to call for dialogue and peace talks in Venezuela

  

  Foreign ministers from Unasur (Union of South American Nations) will be drafting a statement calling for peace and dialogue to end the month-long clashes in Venezuela when they be meeting on Wednesday in Santiago de Chile. The meeting and agenda have the support from the Venezuelan government.

• Tuesday, March 11th 2014 - 20:17 UTC

  Minister Swire representing the UK as the inauguration of President Bachelet

  

  Hugo Swire MP, Minister of State for Latin America in the British Foreign Office is in Chile representing the UK at the inauguration of President Michelle Bachelet. In addition to attending official activities as part of the presidential inauguration, Minister Swire’s program will be focused on strengthening UK-Chile ties in areas such as trade and investment, science and innovation and education.

• Tuesday, March 11th 2014 - 06:44 UTC

  Argentina with no serious economic problems, “just complexities and challenges”

  

  Economy Minister Axel Kicillof argued that Argentina does not have serious economic problems, but rather “complexities, difficulties and challenges,” and accused economists and dissident media outlets of orchestrating a campaign to generate an “end of the world” feeling among members of society.

• Tuesday, March 11th 2014 - 06:37 UTC

  Cristina Fernandez invited to visit Europe and establish a closer dialogue

  

  Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman has revealed that the European Union has requested direct talks with Argentina, after a meeting held between President Cristina Fernández and European Commission vice-president Antonio Tajani on the sides of the official inauguration of Michelle Bachelet as Chilean president.

• Tuesday, March 11th 2014 - 06:28 UTC

  Falklands weekly says Argentina's call for dialogue and respect is 'farcical'

  

  The Falkland Islands latest Penguin News editorial picks on the Chagos Islanders controversy surfaced by Ambassador Alicia Castro and laments that Argentina insists that Falkland Islanders 'are a non people entitled to nothing', but on the other hand had it not been “for the Argentine act of aggression that shone a spotlight on our existence as a population, we too might have ended up a people without a place”.

• Tuesday, March 11th 2014 - 06:19 UTC

  UN anti-drugs chief says 'legalization' is not a solution and points to Uruguay

  

  Legalization will not solve the world's narcotics problem, the UN anti-drugs chief said on Monday, indicating disagreement with a decision by Uruguay to allow the growing, sale and smoking of marijuana.

• Tuesday, March 11th 2014 - 06:12 UTC

  Santos coalition retains Congress majority, but Uribe becomes head of the opposition

  

  Colombian voters showed tepid support for peace talks with FARC guerrillas on Sunday by giving the country's president Juan Manuel Santos a majority in Congress, but also electing his conservative rival, ex-president Alvaro Uribe, to the senate.