Politics

• Friday, June 14th 2013 - 20:42 UTC

  Brazilian fire-fighters accused of dereliction of duty in blaze that killed 242 students

  

  Brazilian police accused eight firefighters of dereliction of duty for their alleged failure to enforce fire codes at a nightclub where a January 27 blaze resulted in the deaths of 242 people, the Record TV network reported this week.

• Friday, June 14th 2013 - 20:08 UTC

  Falklands turns out to commemorate Liberation Day and pay tribute to British Forces

  

  The most important date in the recent history of the Falkland Islands was commemorated on Friday, June 14 by Falkland Islanders and veterans of the 1982 war.

• Friday, June 14th 2013 - 10:57 UTC

  EU wants to extend the tax-evasion network to financial income by non residents

  

  The European Commission is seeking to up the fight against tax evasion within the European Union. The Commission wants governments to automatically exchange information on a wide range of financial income earned in their countries by non-residents.

• Friday, June 14th 2013 - 10:51 UTC

  US Supreme Court rules DNA is not patentable, but synthetically created yes

  

  The United States Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that companies cannot patent parts of naturally-occurring human genes, a decision with the potential to profoundly affect the emerging and lucrative medical and biotechnology industries.

• Friday, June 14th 2013 - 08:20 UTC

  Nicaragua approves transoceanic canal to rival with Panama and to be built by Hong Kong company

  

  The Nicaraguan Congress has approved a proposal to have a canal built linking the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. A Hong Kong-based company has been granted a 50-year concession to build the waterway, which will rival the Panama Canal.

• Friday, June 14th 2013 - 08:16 UTC

  Food commodity markets more balanced in 2013/14, says FAO Outlook

  

  Food commodity markets, in particular for cereals, are set to be more balanced in 2013/14, according to FAO Food Outlook report published on Thursday. World food imports in 2013 are tentatively forecast at 1.09 trillion dollars, close to last year's level, but 13% below the record of 2011, the biannual report on global food markets said.

• Friday, June 14th 2013 - 03:42 UTC

  Thinking in October, Cristina Fernandez demands from banks a new round of low cost business loans

  

  Argentina will demand that banks grant a new round of low-cost business loans from July through December, totalling about 3.8 billion dollars, the central bank said on Thursday. The decision comes four months ahead of mid-term elections next October.

• Friday, June 14th 2013 - 03:32 UTC

  Menem will appeal sentence to seven years in prison for smuggling weapons

  

  An Argentine court sentenced former President Carlos Menem to seven years in prison for smuggling weapons to Croatia during the Yugoslav civil war of the 1990s, and to Ecuador. Last year Menem was acquitted along with 17 other defendants, but the Cassation Court convicted 12 of them and urged the judges to change the verdicts.

• Friday, June 14th 2013 - 03:29 UTC

  Argentina train crash kills 3, injures 315 and sparks controversy over the rail system

  

  At least three people were killed and 315 others injured when two trains collided Thursday morning outside Argentina's capital, officials said. The causes of the accident are yet to be determined and have already triggered controversy giving the poor conditions of the Argentine railway system.

• Friday, June 14th 2013 - 00:16 UTC

  Falklands have never been part of Argentina and Islanders overwhelmingly voted to remain British

  

  The following piece was written by Andrew Ayre, British High Commissioner in Georgetown, Guyana and published in StabroekNews from Guyana.