Where disregarding the law is normal rather than an aberration, citizens are more likely to see paying a bribe as in their best interest and where obeying the law is the norm and disobeying it constitutes deviant behaviour, citizens are more likely to reject bribery, is one of the foundations for understanding the phenomenon, according to the Americas Barometer Insights in one of its latest papers titled, “tolerance of bribery and violation of the law”.
Italy faced political deadlock on Tuesday after a stunning election that saw the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement of comic Beppe Grillo become the strongest party in the country and left no political group with a clear majority in parliament. The protest vote is also a clear signal of the failure of the EU-German sponsored austerity measures which were implemented by the government of the non-elected technocrat government of Mario Monti.
Argentine born Marta Andreasen a UK south east region MEP (Member of the European Parliament) for the UK Independent Party has said she is leaving the party to join the Conservatives.
Argentina accused the UK of displacement of submarines with nuclear weapons capacity in the Falkland Islands, violating international treaties that established the South Atlantic zone as free of nuclear arms. The claim was made on Monday at the United Nations Disarmament Conference in Geneva.
Park Geun-hye made history Monday by becoming South Korea's first female president, pledging to secure South Korea against the threat of an increasingly hostile North Korea at the same time as mending bridges with Pyongyang.
Starting in London his first trip overseas as the new US Secretary of State, John Kerry kept strictly to US policy on the Falkland Islands and refused to comment on the coming referendum when Islanders are expected to decide on their political status and future.
Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff met with Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja on Saturday to discuss boosting trade and investment between the two countries, particularly in the energy sector and cooperation in several other fields. The brief visit was sufficient for the two presidents to sign an ambitious memorandum of understanding.
Brazil's 2014 election season got off last week with the unofficial launch of President Dilma Rousseff's re-election campaign by her mentor and predecessor Lula da Silva during the celebration of the ruling Workers Party tenth year in power.
Human rights groups with the support from political organizations, labour unions and students are planning a march and demonstration against Uruguay’s Supreme Court to protest a ruling that in effect re-instates an amnesty law which benefits military and police officers allegedly involved in human rights crimes during the 1973/84 dictatorship.
India's trade with Latin America has gone down in 2012 in comparison to 2011. This is the second time the trade went down in the last decade when it was steadily growing. The earlier decline was in 2009 at the height of global crisis. Trade with the top seven countries of the region declined 15% from 25.274bn dollars in 2011 to 21.302bn in 2012.