Politics

• Tuesday, April 16th 2013 - 02:43 UTC

  Brazil, Unasur full support for Maduro & question Capriles attitude; US and OAS more cautious

  

  Despite opposition protests demanding a ballot recount, congratulations are pouring in for Venezuela’s proclaimed President Nicolas Maduro: Brazil, Argentina, Russia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, Unasur, although the OAS and the US have adopted a more cautious attitude.

• Tuesday, April 16th 2013 - 02:39 UTC

  Maduro proclaimed elected president; Capriles continues to protest for a recount of ballots

  

  Venezuela's election authority on Monday formally proclaimed Nicolas Maduro the winner of Sunday's presidential vote, despite insistence by the opposition that the ceremony be suspended until a complete recount of votes was carried out given the very tight result.

• Monday, April 15th 2013 - 11:36 UTC

  Growing frustration and recriminations in Uruguayan cabinet over economic policy

  

  Relations inside the Uruguayan cabinet remain tense with some ministers in non-talking terms even when President Jose Mujica cancelled the Monday full ministerial turnout for three specific areas, security, social affairs and production meetings, which function every two weeks.

• Monday, April 15th 2013 - 07:12 UTC

  Bishop from Thatcher’s birthplace warns about the cost of the funeral, ‘a mistake’

  

  The Bishop of Grantham has spoken out about the scale and cost of Margaret Thatcher's funeral. The Rt Rev Tim Ellis, from Baroness Thatcher's birthplace in Lincolnshire, has called the millions likely to be spent a “mistake”.

• Monday, April 15th 2013 - 06:39 UTC

  Capriles won’t accept presidential result until “every vote is recounted, one by one”

  

  Denouncing election irregularities, Venezuelan opposition candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski demanded a recount and said early Monday that he will not recognize the country's presidential results ”until every vote is counted”. His comments came less than an hour after officials said the man former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez handpicked to be his successor had won the country's presidential vote.

• Monday, April 15th 2013 - 06:07 UTC

  Bad start for Maduro: Capriles showing debilitates him inside the Bolivarian nomenclature

  

  Following five hours of a long recount process Venezuela’s National Electoral Council announced early Monday morning that acting president Nicolas Maduro is the new head of state, having defeated Henrique Capriles by less than a two percentage point difference.

• Monday, April 15th 2013 - 03:10 UTC

  Mujica envoy to Buenos Aires to try and re-establish ‘normal contacts’ with Cristina Fernandez

  

  Uruguay’s Deputy Foreign minister Roberto Conde is scheduled to travel to Buenos Aires this week as part of President Jose Mujica’s administration efforts to rebuild bilateral relations with Argentina following his ‘coarse, jail-slang’ descriptions of president Cristina Fernandez and her late husband Nestor Kirchner, which were refuted as ‘unacceptable and denigrating”.

• Monday, April 15th 2013 - 03:05 UTC

  Bachelet proclaimed pre-candidate promises tax and education reforms

  

  Former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet was proclaimed as pre-candidate for the coming presidential elections next November 17 during a political rally in Santiago organized by the Socialists and the Party for Democracy (PPD).

• Monday, April 15th 2013 - 03:01 UTC

  Francis names advisory board of cardinals to advise on reforming the Curia

  

  Pope Francis, in his first major decision, set up an advisory board of cardinals from around the world to help him govern the Catholic Church and reform its troubled central administration.

• Saturday, April 13th 2013 - 05:39 UTC

  A view from the Falklands on Margaret Thatcher's legacy

  

  By Mike Summers (*)
  
  The reports on the reaction in the United Kingdom to the death of Baroness Thatcher have shown a clear contrast between those who approved of her policies and those that did not. This is understandable and is no doubt true of any prime minister. However, here in the Falkland Islands there is very little difference of opinion. Margaret Thatcher is held in high regard and with deep affection by Islanders, for she is someone to whom we owe much.