Chilean president Sebastián Piñera and his Argentine peer Cristina Fernandez agreed to reprogram her visit to Santiago scheduled for the last week of January following the announcement that the Argentine leader will undergo thyroid cancer surgery next January 4.
“Be careful with what you do”, cautioned Argentine President Cristina Fernández half joking and half serious with her Vice-President Amado Boudou over the period of absence she will take following next week’s surgery when he will be replacing her at the Executive Branch.
Argentine president Cristina Fernández spoke publicly on Wednesday for the first time since the announcement she will undergo cancer surgery in January and thanked all well-wishers, from government officials to members of the opposition and overseas leaders.
The Chilean Senate passed a constitutional law that makes voting voluntary and registration automatic, incorporating millions of new voters into the system and removing penalties previously tied to obligatory voting.
Ana Botella, the wife of former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, was sworn-in Tuesday as Madrid’s first woman mayor. She succeeds Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon, mayor of the capital since 2003, who resigned to serve as Justice Minister in the new Conservative government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
The British Ambassador to Chile, Jon Benjamin, expressed on Tuesday UK’s “concern” over “countries that have joined” the Mercosur bloc in their decision to support Argentina, by putting in place a ban on ships flying the Malvinas Islands’ flag from docking at their ports.
The Chilean government has signed a strategic bilateral agreement with the state of Massachusetts, opening the way for collaborative research in the key areas of education, energy and biotechnology.
Students have voted to end occupations at two of the most symbolic institutes of Chile’s public education system, but have vowed to continue demonstrations after months of protests have failed to achieve significant reforms to the country highly privatized, class based education system.
The US Treasury on Tuesday criticized Japan's interventions to halt the Yen's rise in the last six months, saying they were unnecessary and that Tokyo would do better to strengthen its domestic economy and competitiveness.
United States announced it will press for further appreciation of the Yuan arguing the currency is undervalued, while declining to brand China a manipulator of its exchange rate.