Politics

• Friday, August 17th 2012 - 06:56 UTC

  New Dominican president takes office: “my wife will help you look after the place”

  

  Economist Danilo Medina was sworn in on Thursday as the Dominican Republic's new president and pushed for a pact against poverty as he assumed the post. The economist, who belongs to the Dominican Liberation Party of outgoing President Leonel Fernandez, won May 20 election on a promise to raise the country's standard of living.

• Friday, August 17th 2012 - 06:51 UTC

  Buenos Aires most liveable city in Latam, but region scores in the bottom half

  

  Buenos Aires is the most liveable city of Latinamerica followed closely by Santiago de Chile and Montevideo, according to the 2012 report form the Economist Intelligence Unit which ranks the degree of satisfaction and comfort of residents in 140 cities from all over the world based on several factors.

• Thursday, August 16th 2012 - 19:52 UTC

  Struggle for education reform in Chile: police arrest 70 students occupying schools

  

  Chilean police stormed on Thursday three schools in the centre of Santiago, overtaken by students for the past week, and arrested 70 young people who were involved in the protests demanding education reform.

• Thursday, August 16th 2012 - 19:37 UTC

  Ship linked to Captain Scott’s failed South Pole expedition found off Greenland

  

  The wreck of the ship that carried Captain Robert Scott on his doomed expedition to the Antarctic a century ago has been discovered off Greenland. The SS Terra Nova was found by a team from a US research company.

• Thursday, August 16th 2012 - 19:27 UTC

  UK determined to extradite Assange in spite of asylum granted by Ecuador

  

  Ecuador has granted asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange two months after he took refuge in its London embassy while fighting extradition from the UK, but Foreign Secretary William Hague said the UK would not allow Assange safe passage out of the country.

• Thursday, August 16th 2012 - 04:52 UTC

  Unasur not after reinstatement of Lugo; wants political dialogue in Paraguay

  

  Unasur (Union of South American Nations) wants to closely accompany the democratic restoration process in Paraguay and is not after the reinstatement of removed president Fernando Lugo, said Peruvian Foreign Affairs minister Rafael Roncagliolo.

• Thursday, August 16th 2012 - 04:40 UTC

  Brazilian president riding high in approval ratings despite economic slowdown

  

  President Dilma Rousseff continues to enjoy high approval ratings as Brazilians remain mostly unaffected by the country's recent economic slowdown, according to a poll released on Tuesday.

• Thursday, August 16th 2012 - 04:31 UTC

  Supreme Tribunal rejects request to include Lula da Silva in the corruption scheme

  

  Brazil Federal Supreme Tribunal denied on Wednesday a request to include former president Lula da Silva in the so-called “trial of the century” involving 38 former ministers and lawmakers accused of an extended bribes scheme.

• Thursday, August 16th 2012 - 02:26 UTC

  Mujica working for more trade agreements and a Mercosur with ‘flexibility’

  

  Uruguay needs “new markets and new partners” and must try to diversify trade with the largest possible number of agreements to make Mercosur more flexible and anticipate the current process in Argentina, said President Jose Mujica.

• Thursday, August 16th 2012 - 01:44 UTC

  US consumer prices in 12 months to July reach 1.4%, down from June’s 1.7%

  

  US consumer prices were flat in July for a second straight month and the year-over-year increase was the smallest since November 2010. In the 12 months to July the CPI rose 1.4%, slowing from June's 1.7% rise, the US Labour Department said on Wednesday.