Politics

• Monday, April 1st 2013 - 09:32 UTC

  Opposition admits it will be hard to beat Chancellor Merkel in September

  

  Germany's two main opposition parties traded warnings against joining forces with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives after September's election if they fail to win their own left-of-centre majority.

• Monday, April 1st 2013 - 09:27 UTC

  Italian president confirms PM Monti until a new government can be formed

  

  Italian President Giorgio Napolitano ruled out standing down early to make way for new parliamentary elections, following the failure of attempts to form a government this week. He stressed that Prime Minister Mario Monti retained full authority at the head of a caretaker administration until a new government can be formed

• Monday, April 1st 2013 - 09:13 UTC

  Cameron and Rajoy scheduled to meet this month, says Madrid media

  

  The prime ministers of Spain and Britain will meet in Madrid during the second week of April, according to a weekend report in ABC. The article said the meeting between Mariano Rajoy and David Cameron would centre primarily on the Euro-zone crisis.

• Monday, April 1st 2013 - 09:05 UTC

  Unasur calls on all sides involved to ensure peace and security in the Korean peninsula

  

  The Union of South American Nations, Unasur expressed deep concern and called on all sides involved to ensure the preservation of peace and security in the Korean peninsula.

• Saturday, March 30th 2013 - 10:15 UTC

  Falkland Islands: More stunts can be expected from Argentina says visiting diplomat

  

  “I THINK there is no doubt that the Argentine Government will continue to look for opportunities to pull stunts of one kind or another.”
  The speaker was Dr Peter Hayes, the Director of the FCO’s Overseas Territories Directorate who was paying a short visit to the Falkland Islands last week.

• Thursday, March 28th 2013 - 11:58 UTC

  Falkland Islands “close to the hearts” of Chileans, says Punta Arenas British consul

  

  A reception was held at the Falkland Islands Government House in honour of the Honorary British Consul in Punta Arenas, John Rees MBE, who is currently visiting the Islands at the invitation of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

• Thursday, March 28th 2013 - 10:25 UTC

  Chile: Back from UN job Bachelet confirms she is running for president next November

  

  Popular former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet announced late Wednesday that she is running in the 17 November election. Bachelet, the country's first female president 2006-2010, made the announcement at a public event in a southern Santiago neighborhood where she grew up.

• Thursday, March 28th 2013 - 10:15 UTC

  Falklands’ sovereignty belongs to the ‘whole of Latinamerica’ says Uruguay

  

  Foreign minister Luis Almagro said on Wednesday that Malvinas Islands’ sovereignty belongs to the whole of Latinamerica and as part of Latinamerica and the Caribbean, “we will defend the territorial integrity of the continent”.

• Thursday, March 28th 2013 - 10:03 UTC

  Uruguay 2012 GDP expanded 3.9% boosted by construction and domestic demand

  

  Uruguay’s GDP expanded 3.9% last in 2012 over the previous year despite a slight contraction in the fourth quarter, according to a late Wednesday release from the Central bank. The bank’s original estimate was 4%. In 2011 the economy grew a revised 6.5%.

• Thursday, March 28th 2013 - 09:56 UTC

  Argentina prepared to offer suing ‘vulture funds’ a 25-year bond, says Ambito

  

  Argentina plans to offer suing “holdout” creditors a 25-year bond equal to the face value of their debt when the country defaulted in 2002, local financial daily Ambito Financiero reported on Wednesday.