Politics

• Thursday, August 22nd 2013 - 00:40 UTC

  Argentina purchases Chinese equipment to improve the railway system

  

  Argentina approved a contract to purchase railway equipment from a Chinese firm, said the government gazette. The contract was signed by the Argentine Ministry of the Interior and Transportation and the Chinese firm CSR Qingdao Sifang Co, Ltd on May 23, 2013 and officially approved with Administrative Decision 584/2013.

• Thursday, August 22nd 2013 - 00:33 UTC

  Fed members agree to slow bond purchases but divided over when to start

  

  The US Federal Reserve members appear to agree on slowing bond purchases by the end of this year if the US economy continues to improve, but remains divided over the exact timing of the move. That's the message from the minutes of the Fed's July 30-31 meeting released Wednesday.

• Wednesday, August 21st 2013 - 18:55 UTC

  Falklands: Ambassador Castro says comments on PM Cameron were ‘taken out of context’

  

  Argentina's ambassador to Britain said on Wednesday she had not meant to offend British Prime Minister David Cameron when she called him “dumb” and his handling of the long-running dispute over the Falkland Islands “foolish and totally useless”.

• Wednesday, August 21st 2013 - 18:50 UTC

  Chile/Argentina row: Lan Chile evicted from Buenos Aires metropolitan terminal

  

  Chilean president Sebastián Piñera has instructed Foreign minister Alfredo Moreno to immediately contact Argentine authorities following the decision by the government of President Cristina Fernandez ordering Lan Chile to move out from the metropolitan airport of Aeroparque in Buenos Aires.

• Wednesday, August 21st 2013 - 18:36 UTC

  Controversy with FIFA over hotel prices for the 2014 World Cup

  

  The Brazilian government has expressed concern that some hotels listed on FIFA website for the 2014 World Cup plan significant price increases during the tournament. Brazil’s tourism board, Embratur, is said to have notified the justice ministry after its research showed that rates will be up to 500% more expensive during the World Cup in some hotels offered by the MATCH Services agency on FIFA website.

• Wednesday, August 21st 2013 - 18:31 UTC

  Argentina media law dispute between Cristina Fernandez and Clarin reaches UK newsstands

  

  The conflict between the administration of President Cristina Fernandez and the powerful Clarín media Group CEO Héctor Magnetto crossed the Atlantic and reached UK newsstands as British daily The Guardian published an article on Argentina’s Media Law.

• Wednesday, August 21st 2013 - 18:28 UTC

  Manning sentenced to 35 years for providing Wikileaks with 700.000 classified files

  

  Bradley Manning, the US soldier convicted of the biggest breach of classified data in the nation's history by providing files to WikiLeaks, was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Judge Colonel Denise Lind, who last month found Manning guilty of 20 charges including espionage and theft, could have sentenced him to as many as 90 years in prison. Prosecutors had asked for 60 years.

• Wednesday, August 21st 2013 - 18:26 UTC

  Al-Jazeera despite ‘aggressive hostility’ launches TV news-channel in United States

  

  Al Jazeera is launching a new TV news channel in the United States. The network will be available in almost 48 million US households, offering 14 hours of news each day. Al Jazeera replaces Current TV, the cable television network founded by former US Vice President Al Gore, which the Qatar-owned broadcaster acquired in January 2013 for around 500m dollars.

• Wednesday, August 21st 2013 - 01:35 UTC

  Uruguay Vice-president concerned Royal Bank of Canada is leaving the country

  

  Vice-president Danilo Astori said he was surprised at the way events unfolded ending with the decision from the Royal Bank of Canada of leaving Uruguay, but also concerned about the international impact of such a move, triggered by a ‘disorderly’ raid in its offices.

• Wednesday, August 21st 2013 - 00:23 UTC

  “Devaluation of the Argentine Peso is a fact of the market”, says Lavagna

  

  Former minister and ex-presidential hopeful Roberto Lavagna warned that the Argentine economy is going through “the worst scenario possible” since the market has already adapted to the devaluation of the Peso, but the government of President Cristina Fernandez in its fantasy refuses to acknowledge it.