Politics

• Friday, November 1st 2024 - 10:42 UTC

  Bukele's El Salvador to send troops to Haiti

  

  El Salvador's Congress gave its nod this week to the sending of troops to help violence-torn Haiti where crime gangs reign supreme. At first, El Salvador's assistance will be focused on medevac operations in coordination with the United Nations (UN) blue helmets deployed in the Caribbean country. The Parliamentarian decision thus ratified with 57 votes out of 60 the so-called ”Agreement on the Condition of the Multinational Security Support Mission (MMAS) in Haiti” signed by the diplomatic missions of El Salvador and Haiti to the Organization of American States (OAS).

• Friday, November 1st 2024 - 10:23 UTC

  Brazil: Unemployment down in 3Q

  

  According to a report from Brazil’s Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) released Thursday, unemployment in South America's largest country fell to 6.4 % in the third quarter of 2024 (from July to September), Agencia Brasil reported. These figures are 0.5 percentage points lower than between April and June, when it stood at 6.9%. Compared to July–September 2023, the drop is 1.3 percentage points. In that quarter, the rate was 7.7%.

• Thursday, October 31st 2024 - 19:40 UTC

  Work begins in Royal Navy’s new Type 31 frigate HMS Formidable

  

  With a blinding arc of light as the laser cutter sliced through steel plate, work started this week on the Royal Navy’s new frigate HMS Formidable. Watched by political, military and business leaders – as well as the hundreds of skilled engineers and technicians – local MP Graeme Downie pressed the button to set the machine in motion at Babcock’s state-of-the-art facility in Rosyth.

• Thursday, October 31st 2024 - 19:21 UTC

  UK Office for Budget Responsibility, new government increases spending by £70bn annually for the next five years

  

  A quick analysis by the Chair from the UK Office for Budget Responsibility, Richard Hughes, on the Budget announced to Parliament on Wednesday by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves MP.

• Thursday, October 31st 2024 - 10:55 UTC

  US gives nod to sale of F-16 equipment to Argentina

  

  The US State Department Wednesday gave its nod to the possible sale of high-tech equipment for Argentina's F-16 combat aircraft. The US$ 941 million operation has the Fort Worth (Texas) based company Lockheed Martin as the primary contractor. “This agreement reinforces US foreign policy and security objectives by supporting the security of an important ally in South America,” the State Department said in a statement.

• Thursday, October 31st 2024 - 10:45 UTC

  Venezuela pulls ambassador from Brasilia for consultations

  

  Venezuela's Bolivarian regime Wednesday summoned its Ambassador in Brasilia to Caracas for consultations in repudiation of statements by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's foreign affairs advisor Celso Amorim, Agencia Brasil reported.

• Thursday, October 31st 2024 - 10:22 UTC

  Business as usual in Argentina as bus strike is lifted

  

  It will be business as usual for Argentines on Thursday after the bus drivers' Unión Tranviarios Automotor (UTA) lifted the strike following an understanding with the Labor Ministry and the companies represented by the Asociación Argentina de Empresarios del Transporte Automotor.

• Wednesday, October 30th 2024 - 22:38 UTC

  Milei sacks Mondino for not siding with US against Cuba

  

  Argentine President Javier Milei sacked Foreign Ministry Diana Mondino Wednesday after Argentina voted in line with most countries at the United Nations (UN) against the US trade embargo on Cuba in force since 1962. The 32nd consecutive non-binding resolution in the same regard was passed with 187 votes in favor, two against (USA and Israel) and one abstention (Moldova). Mondino will be replaced by the current ambassador to the United States, Gerardo Werthein.

• Wednesday, October 30th 2024 - 21:38 UTC

  Dozens killed by heavy rains hitting Spain

  

  Local authorities have left behind the rescue efforts and moved on the the body-retrieving and identification phase Wednesday after at least 62 people died in the Spanish Community of Valencia as a consequence of this week's severe flooding caused by the Isolated High-Level Depression (known for its Spanish acronym DANA, depresión aislada en niveles altos). Another person was reported dead in the central region of Castilla-La Mancha.

• Wednesday, October 30th 2024 - 15:46 UTC

  Falklands coast line surveyed by the Argentine navy during “Operation Cow Beach”

  

  Now that the Argentine president Javier Milei has made public a shopping list to equip the armed forces, such as the US manufactured F16 from Denmark for the Air Force, plus tanks, armored vehicles and modern warfare elements such as drones, rockets for the army, and also some surface vessels for the navy, and possibly Scorpane French/Spanish submarines, such as the navies of Brazil and Chile, it is interesting to recall an incident almost sixty years ago when a sea incursion to the Falkland Islands.