Politics

• Monday, May 13th 2013 - 04:28 UTC

  G7 reaches overall compromise on ‘austerity/expansion’ and fiscal consolidation

  

  The Group of Seven advanced economies appeared to smooth over US-European differences on how to balance deep austerity measures with ways to support fragile growth. G7 finance ministers and central bankers also pledged their commitment to tackling tax evasion during two days of talks in the English countryside, British finance minister George Osborne said.

• Monday, May 13th 2013 - 04:21 UTC

  Maduro trying to deal with his main challenges: food scarcity and inflation

  

  President Nicolas Maduro accused Lorenzo Mendoza, owner of Empresas Polar SA, Venezuela’s largest privately held company, of reducing food production and creating shortages amid record scarcity and the region’s fastest inflation close to 30%.

• Monday, May 13th 2013 - 04:08 UTC

  German president in Brazil to promote trade and investments

  

  German President Joachim Gauck arrived on Sunday to Brazil with economic and trade issues as the centre of his visit. The trip to Sao Paulo marks the start of the Year of Germany in Brazil, which Gauck's predecessor Christian Wulff agreed on with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff in May 2011.

• Monday, May 13th 2013 - 04:03 UTC

  Two Tory ministers prepared to vote for Britain to leave the EU

  

  Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has become the second cabinet minister to say he would vote for Britain to leave the EU if a referendum were held now. But, like education secretary Michael Gove, he said David Cameron must be given a chance to bring powers back from Brussels before deciding.

• Saturday, May 11th 2013 - 10:35 UTC

  UK ambassador praises Chilean judicial system in case involving death of British citizen in 1973

  

  This week a Chilean court found two retired naval officers guilty in connection with the kidnapping, torture and murder of a Chilean-British citizen in September 1973; UK Ambassador Jon Benjamin made a statement about the verdicts in trial of those accused.

• Saturday, May 11th 2013 - 10:26 UTC

  HMS Protector back in Portsmouth after a successful nine-month Antarctica deployment

  

  HMS Protector, the Royal Navy’s Ice Patrol Ship, has returned to Portsmouth at the end of a nine-month deployment to the ‘Frozen Continent’. Operating in the British Antarctic Territory, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands throughout the Austral Summer, the ship conducted three intensive work periods in the ice, and a fourth work period in the waters surrounding South Georgia.

• Saturday, May 11th 2013 - 05:50 UTC

  Argentina’s whitewashing bill could attract “around 5 billion dollars”

  

  The head of Argentina’s Lower House Budget and Finance Committee and former Finance minister Roberto Feletti said that the whitewashing bill should allow the entrance of “around 5 billion dollars” into Argentina’s market. For the MP, the government is “fighting a historic battle to block” what he called a “market coup.”

• Saturday, May 11th 2013 - 05:49 UTC

  Argentina’s ‘blue dollar’ yields on expectations but still above 10 Pesos

  

  The so called ‘blue dollar’ traded in Argentina’s parallel market ended on Friday just above 10 Pesos after having reached record highs earlier in the week (10.55 Pesos) and following the Thursday announcement of a tax amnesty bill and other ‘whitewashing’ financial instruments.

• Saturday, May 11th 2013 - 05:47 UTC

  Argentine government insists a ‘blue dollar’ at 6.50 Pesos is the target

  

  Argentina’s Secretary of Domestic Commerce Guillermo Moreno wants to bring the foreign exchange black market ‘back in line’ using new dollar securities the government plans to issue locally as part of a major tax amnesty plan, according to Alfredo Piano, Chairman of Banco Piano SA.

• Saturday, May 11th 2013 - 05:43 UTC

  Spain received Queen’s message on Gibraltar and Falklands with “surprise and considerable discomfort”

  

  Jose Ignacio Landaluce, the ruling Spanish Popular Party MP and Mayor of Algeciras, said that the Queen’s message of support for Gibraltar (and Falklands) was greeted with “surprise and considerable discomfort” in Spain. His was the only reaction from any Spanish official to a statement that was warmly welcomed in Gibraltar.