Politics

• Monday, September 17th 2012 - 05:43 UTC

  Brazil’s ‘trial of the century’ culprits point to Lula da Silva as “the chief”

  

  Former Brazilian president Lula da Silva was “the chief” of the corruption network the ruling Workers Party had organized to have sufficient votes in Congress, according to a report published in the weekly Veja, the magazine with the largest circulation in the country.

• Monday, September 17th 2012 - 05:37 UTC

  Venezuela and Argentina sign 24 agreements in the oil-food industries

  

  Venezuela and Argentina signed three institutional agreements and 24 among corporations during the two-day First Meeting for the Venezuela-Argentina Petro-industrial development with the purpose of intensifying trade, investment and cooperation between the two countries.

• Monday, September 17th 2012 - 05:32 UTC

  FCO outlines issues and calls for restraint ‘on all sides’ in Gibraltar/Spain fishing dispute

  

  The upholding of British sovereignty and protecting Gibraltar’s interests are the key issues for Governor Sir Adrian Johns in the current fishing dispute involving Spanish fishermen and the Spanish authorities.

• Monday, September 17th 2012 - 02:54 UTC

  Brazil trusts the Venezuelan electoral process will be “credible and transparent”

  

  Brazil said it is confident that the electoral process in Venezuela, where Chavez is bidding for another six years will be “credible and transparent”. Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota made the statement in an interview published on Sunday by O Estado de Sao Paulo.

• Monday, September 17th 2012 - 02:47 UTC

  Experts close to President Rousseff warn of a “real estate bubble” in Brazil

  

  A team of experts working for the administration of President Dilma Rousseff has warned of the existence of a “real estate burble” in Brazil with the value of houses soaring 165% in Rio do Janeiro and 132% in Sao Paulo in the last four years.

• Monday, September 17th 2012 - 02:37 UTC

  Paraguay could demand “moral and economic” compensation from Mercosur members

  

  Paraguay is considering demanding “moral and economic” compensation from Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay for having been suspended from Mercosur as full member and at the same reiterated its rejection to Venezuela’s admission, according to the country Foreign Ministry.

• Monday, September 17th 2012 - 02:30 UTC

  Thousands of Spaniards take to the streets to protest: “enough is enough”

  

  Tens of thousands of Spaniards rallied in Madrid to protest against spending cuts and tax rises in a country reeling from high unemployment and a gruelling recession. Teachers, nurses and social services workers thronged the capital's central Plaza Colon a day after Spain said it would present new economic reforms at the end of September likely to contain more austerity measures.

• Monday, September 17th 2012 - 01:25 UTC

  Cristina Fernandez lawmaker says “no formal decision” on constitutional reform

  

  A close advisor to President Cristina Fernandez lawmaker Carlos Kunkel defended the possibility of amendments to the 1994 Argentine constitution but cautioned that “no formal decision about it has been made on a congressional or party level.”

• Saturday, September 15th 2012 - 07:06 UTC

  Argentine government says protestors are more interested about what happens in Miami

  

  The Argentine government reacted strongly to Thursday’s massive demonstrations across the country and challenged them to organize in a political party and run for election. However the mayor of the city of Buenos Aires said the protests filled him with “pride” and called on the people to keep confronting the government.

• Saturday, September 15th 2012 - 07:01 UTC

  Mud slinging and insults become personal in Venezuelan presidential campaign

  

  Venezuela's opposition challenger Henrique Capriles sought to deflect attention from a corruption row by throwing the accusation back at President Hugo Chávez on Friday in an escalating political brawl ahead of the Oct. 7 vote.