Politics

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 08:22 UTC

  Three out of four Brazilians fed up with poor public services support street protests

  

  An overwhelming majority of Brazilians, 75% supports the two weeks street demonstrations demanding improved public services and complaining about the huge sums invested in stadiums for football world cups, according to a public opinion poll from Ibope and which was released in the latest edition of the weekly magazine Epoca.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 08:20 UTC

  Ecuador confirms Edward Snowden has formally requested for asylum

  

  Ecuador's foreign minister said his country was “analyzing” a request for asylum by fugitive US intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden who is currently in Moscow

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 08:18 UTC

  Francis will meet indigenous leaders abused and persecuted in northern Argentina

  

  Following a request made by Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Pope Francis is scheduled to meet on Monday with Félix Díaz, the chief of the La Primavera Qom indigenous community from northern Argentina.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 08:15 UTC

  End of near-zero interest rates; governments must do more for economic recovery and reform, says BIS

  

  The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) says banks have done their bit to help economic recovery and governments must do more. The Basel bases organization, known as the “central banks' central bank” says it is time for them to stop pumping funds into their economies.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 08:13 UTC

  Europe remains divided as to how to bail-out failed banks; next try Wednesday

  

  Europe failed to agree on how to share the cost of bank collapses, as Germany resisted attempts by France to water down rules designed to spare taxpayers in future crises.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 03:09 UTC

  Bolivia will hold double membership of Mercosur and the Andean Community

  

  Bolivia will join Mercosur without abandoning the Andean Community and will continue with negotiations for a cooperation and trade agreement with the European Union, announced in La Paz the Foreign ministers from Bolivia, David Choquehuanca and Luis Almagro from Uruguay which currently holds the group’s chair.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 03:07 UTC

  Paraguay not returning to Mercosur under current circumstances: demands compliance with rule of the law

  

  Suspended Paraguay will not return to Mercosur trampling on the institutions of the country or from the group, warned president-elect Horacio Cartes during an event at the Paraguay-US Chamber of Commerce. He emphasized that if there is no respect or abidance by the rule of the law, “we will remain as we are”.

• Monday, June 24th 2013 - 03:03 UTC

  Falklands: Sierra Leone says self-determination is paramount and supports sending C24 mission to the Islands

  

  Sierra Leone, member of the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization maintained that the rights of the Islanders, present in the Falkland/Malvinas Islands for 180 years, should be paramount to any settlement and that self determination was the guiding principle of any resolution to the question. “There is no dispute that the people are the holders of the right to self-determination”.

• Saturday, June 22nd 2013 - 06:03 UTC

  Rousseff pledges to meet protestors and their demands, but will also maintain order

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff promised on Friday to hold a dialogue with members of a protest movement sweeping the country, but also said she would do whatever is necessary to maintain order.

• Saturday, June 22nd 2013 - 05:58 UTC

  Brazil bishops support massive demonstrations, “as long as they are peaceful”

  

  Leaders of the Brazilian bishops' conference announced their support for the massive demonstrations sweeping across the country but declined to say how they might affect World Youth Day activities and the visit of Pope Francis in July.