Politics

• Tuesday, December 18th 2012 - 03:20 UTC

  Divorce rate soars in Brazil as new legislation makes it easier and faster

  

  Brazil had a record-setting 351.153 divorces in 2011, 45.6% more than in 2010 and the most since the annual statistic began to be kept in 1984, the government said Monday.

• Monday, December 17th 2012 - 21:10 UTC

  Chilean Justice Minister resigns over private universities accreditation scandal

  

  Chile’s Justice Minister Teodoro Ribera resigned on Monday amid allegations he has ties to a former director of the country’s accreditation committee, or CNA, which improperly authorized some universities to operate.

• Monday, December 17th 2012 - 20:48 UTC

  Deadly clash trial that cost the president his job begins in Paraguay

  

  Prosecutors in Paraguay have filed charges against 14 peasants allegedly involved in a land dispute which resulted in the killing of 17 people last June, six months ago. The charges range from murder to criminal association and land invasion.

• Monday, December 17th 2012 - 06:50 UTC

  Paraguay’s next government ‘must debate on whether to remain or abandon Mercosur’

  

  Foreign minister Jose Felix Fernandez Estigarribia said that Paraguay needs an open discussion on whether the country should remain or not in Mercosur, particularly since the issue has become extremely divisive. However the discussion must be addressed by the elected government that takes office in August 2013.

• Monday, December 17th 2012 - 06:45 UTC

  Argentine frigate expected back in Buenos Aires early January

  

  “Once more we fulfill our promise, the Frigate is coming back,” was the first statement given by President Cristina Fernández over the ruling of the UN's International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to release the ARA Libertad frigate.

• Monday, December 17th 2012 - 06:39 UTC

  Ghana government to review ruling on immediate release of Argentine vessel

  

  The Ghanaian government indicated on Sunday that it will review the recent ruling by the International Court for the Law of the Sea ordering the African nation to release the Argentine Navy Libertad frigate, which remains impounded there since October 2.

• Monday, December 17th 2012 - 06:29 UTC

  In January begins third phase of Argentine landmine clearance in the Falklands

  

  The third phase of explosive ordnance and landmine clearance in the Falkland Islands is scheduled to begin next January and extend until March 2013 and is programmed to concentrate in the surrounding of the capital Stanley.

• Monday, December 17th 2012 - 06:09 UTC

  Chavez candidates sweep in provincial elections; Capriles confirmed as opposition leader

  

  President Hugo Chavez candidates swept nearly all of Venezuela's 23 states in Sunday's regional vote, but Henrique Capriles consolidated his position as top opposition leader by winning re-election as governor.

• Monday, December 17th 2012 - 06:03 UTC

  Talvi says Uruguayan government reacts with ‘authoritarian ticks” to criticism

  

  The head of an economics think-tank said that the Uruguayan government reactions to his criticisms of the management of the country’s economy are a kind of “authoritarian tick” which pretends to censor all those who do not share the “official truths”.

• Monday, December 17th 2012 - 05:53 UTC

  Blatter warns Brazil about security in football fields and the coming World Cup

  

  The abandonment of last Wednesday's South American Cup final following shocking accusations police had pulled guns on players should serve as a warning for Brazil's World Cup organizers, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said this weekend.