Politics

• Friday, November 29th 2013 - 07:44 UTC

  Mujica questions Argentine trade policies towards Mercosur that “take us back to the sixties”

  

  Uruguayan president Jose Mujica again questioned Argentine president Cristina Fernandez administration trade policies which he said take us back 'to the sixties, when everybody locked in', and in effect deny Mercosur and harm other members.

• Friday, November 29th 2013 - 07:39 UTC

  Mercosur must have an only voice and act as a block, advises former leader Sarkozy

  

  “Mercosur must have greater integration, act with an only voice and operate as a block”, advised former French president Nicholas Sarkozy at a business conference in Buenos Aires, where he also underlined that without the European Union, “France or Germany could have disappeared from the world map”

• Friday, November 29th 2013 - 07:32 UTC

  Outraged UK Parliament reacts to Spain's attitude towards Gibraltar and the diplomatic bags indecent

  

  Outraged British members of Parliament from across the political spectrum reacted with disbelief to the explanations provided by the Spanish Government on the UK diplomatic bags incident at the Gibraltar border and called on the British Government to take a tougher stance in response.

• Friday, November 29th 2013 - 07:23 UTC

  Desperately dollar-short Venezuela planning gold reserves swap operation

  

  Venezuela is evaluating a swap agreement involving gold reserves as a way to fortify dollar supplies in a country which suffers chronic product shortages and inflation close to 55%. Opposition leader Henrique Capriles said last week that the government was negotiating a swap operation with Goldman Sachs involving 1.45 million ounces of gold worth around 1.86 billion dollars.

• Friday, November 29th 2013 - 07:17 UTC

  Youth gangs raids in Rio beaches are back challenging police; US consulate alert

  

  A truck with fourteen cameras with a 360 degree angle and a range of eight kilometers plus a fourfold increase in police numbers has been displayed along Rio do Janeiro most iconic beaches following an outbreak of 'arrastraos' or dragnets in which tens of teenagers stampede on to beachgoers to steal whatever they can get hold off.

• Friday, November 29th 2013 - 07:08 UTC

  Falklands oil exploration exposed to jail and fines according to Argentine law

  

  Argentina has threatened oil firms seeking to operate off the Falkland Islands with 15-year jail terms, huge fines and confiscation of assets in a fresh salvo in the dispute with Britain over South Atlantic islands sovereignty. But UK reiterated that Argentine law does not apply to Falklands or British Overseas Territories.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 22:51 UTC

  Repsol contracts Deutsche Bank as advisor for the YPF compensation deal

  

  Repsol appointed Deutsche Bank AG to advise it on the compensation pre-settlement it reached with Argentina regarding the seizure of 51% of YPF in April 2012. The arrangement was negotiated in Buenos Aires this week by ministers from Argentina and Spain, Repsol executives, and representatives from the Spanish company’s two largest shareholders, Mexico's Petroleos Mexicanos, Pemex and Barcelona-based CaixaBank SA.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 21:03 UTC

  UK will insist Gibraltar be included in all EU aviation legislation

  

  The British Government will refuse to accept a return to the pre-2006 Cordoba Agreement practice of excluding the Gibraltar airport from EU aviation measures, Minister for Europe David Lidington told Parliament and pledged the inclusion of Gibraltar in all EU aviation legislation.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 11:22 UTC

  Washington pledged support for Japan in dispute with China over islands

  

  The United States pledged support for ally Japan in a growing dispute with China over islands in the East China Sea and senior US administration officials accused Beijing of behavior that had unsettled its neighbors.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 11:02 UTC

  Repsol board backs compensation deal offered by Argentina for seized YPF

  

  Spanish oil group Repsol's board Wednesday backed a draft multi-billion-dollar compensation deal over Argentina's 2012 seizure of the company's YPF subsidiary. The deal seeks to repair the financial hit taken by Repsol when Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez in April 2012 ordered the seizure of Repsol's 51-percent stake in YPF.