Politics

• Sunday, September 15th 2013 - 18:37 UTC

  OAS chief and Pope Francis talk drugs, Chile’s coup and Latam’s coming challenges

  

  The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, was received in a private audience by Pope Francis in Vatican City and by the President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano, in the framework of a visit to Rome at the invitation of the Italianaeuropei to give a lecture during the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the military coup in Chile.

• Sunday, September 15th 2013 - 18:17 UTC

  Brazil and Argentina to coordinate cyber defense to address espionage challenge

  

  Argentine Defence Minister Agustín Rossi and his Brazilian counterpart Celso Amorim issued a joint statement with cyber-defence taking the centre stage of the bilateral agenda, during the official ceremony at the Libertador building, seat of the Defence ministry in Buenos Aires.

• Sunday, September 15th 2013 - 18:11 UTC

  Merkel coalition leads a week ahead of national elections in Germany

  

  The opposition Social Democrats has gained slightly in the last pre-election opinion poll by German public broadcaster ARD. Their candidate, Peer Steinbrück has raised some eyebrows by raising one of his own digits in a weekly newspaper supplement.

• Sunday, September 15th 2013 - 17:59 UTC

  Rajoy offers talks to Catalonia but no indication of an independence vote

  

  Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy offered to hold talks with Catalonia, but gave no indication he would allow the wealthy north-western region to vote on independence. The offer of talks was made in a letter sent to the head of Catalonia's regional government, Artur Mas, only three days after hundreds of thousands of Catalans formed a 400-km human chain to push their independence bid and demand a referendum.

• Sunday, September 15th 2013 - 17:57 UTC

  Barroso said Spain denied queues at the Gibraltar border were ‘on purpose’

  

  The President of the European Commission said this week that Europe “would not hesitate to act” if it found evidence that Spanish border checks in the Gibraltar border breached EU rules on freedom of movement.

• Sunday, September 15th 2013 - 17:56 UTC

  PM Cameron furious with Barroso for comments on Tories European elections prospects

  

  British Prime Minister David Cameron has hit back at European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso after he warned the Tories were heading for defeat at the hands of UK Independent party in next year’s European elections.

• Sunday, September 15th 2013 - 17:54 UTC

  UK confirms plans to privatize the iconic postal service: tough battle ahead

  

  Britain’s coalition government has confirmed plans to privatize the country’s iconic 497-year-old state-owned postal service, Royal Mail, a move fiercely opposed by postal unions who have already suggested they will hold rolling strikes over the sell-off. The sale would be one of the most significant privatizations in Britain since the 1990s.

• Friday, September 13th 2013 - 20:40 UTC

  Canada, Israel, Japan with the most educated status in the world, says OECD

  

  With spiking tuition costs, insurmountable loan balances, and the unemployment rate for recent college graduates at double digit it’s clear that a university education doesn’t receive the best of praise, particularly in developed countries.

• Friday, September 13th 2013 - 20:36 UTC

  Falklands: despite MPs criticisms, “UK government wants full bilateral relationship with Argentina”

  

  A British Conservative Member of Parliament Henry Smith labeled Argentine president Cristina Fernandez as ‘disgraceful’ for how she has treated the people of the Falkland Islands and also claimed she stopped an Argentine prosecutor from testifying before the US congress on the Buenos Aires 1994 bombing of an Israelite mutual association in order to protect a growing alliance with Iran.

• Friday, September 13th 2013 - 02:29 UTC

  Aerolineas Argentinas admits to annual losses of 250 million dollars

  

  Argentina’s flag carrier Aerolíneas Argentinas will have this year an operational deficit of 250 million dollars, approximately 12% of sales, but a sharp decrease from the 640 million loss last year, said CEO Mariano Recalde addressing Senate Budget, Finance, Infrastructure, Housing and Transport committees.