Politics

• Monday, July 23rd 2012 - 08:32 UTC

  FARC blow up Colombia’s main oil pipeline; fears of pollution in nearby river

  

  Colombia's largest rebel group has blown up a section of the 220.000-barrel-per-day-capacity Caño Limon-Covenas oil pipeline, Ecopetrol and the army said, in the latest in a series of attacks on oil infrastructure.

• Monday, July 23rd 2012 - 08:18 UTC

  Gibraltar demands action from UK, after latest incident with Spain’s Guardia Civil

  

  The Gibraltar government has told the UK that 'the time has now come for action, not simply written protests from London to Madrid' in defence of British Gibraltar Territorial Waters, following the latest incident where a Gibraltar vessel was boarded by the Guardia Civil in Gibraltar waters 'and forcibly conveyed' together with its occupants to Algeciras 'at high speed and without navigational lights.'

• Monday, July 23rd 2012 - 04:15 UTC

  After 18 years of negotiations Russia is member of World Trade Organization

  

  President Vladimir Putin signed the bill ratifying Russia’s entry to the World Trade Organisation after 18 years of often acrimonious negotiations, the Kremlin press office said.

• Monday, July 23rd 2012 - 04:06 UTC

  EU parliament president warns economic crisis could spark “social explosion”

  

  European Parliament president Martin Schulz warned this weekend that Spain's economic crisis could spark a “social explosion” across the continent.

• Monday, July 23rd 2012 - 03:09 UTC

  OAS will not sanction Paraguay, says ambassador following informal meeting

  

  Paraguay will not be sanctioned by the Organization of American States, said the country’s ambassador on Friday following an informal meeting behind closed doors of OAS Permanent Council.

• Monday, July 23rd 2012 - 02:55 UTC

  Olympic Committee “glad” Argentina will avoid politically tainted demonstrations

  

  The head of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge assured he was “glad” that President Cristina Fernández had called the Argentine athletes to avoid demonstrations over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands sovereignty dispute during the Olympic Games of London 2012.

• Saturday, July 21st 2012 - 07:51 UTC

  Chavez confirms Dilma’s invitation to Mercosur meeting in Rio on July 31

  

  Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said he had talked with his peer from Brazil Dilma Rousseff who confirmed the invitation to an extraordinary meeting of Mercosur next July 31 in Rio do Janeiro.

• Saturday, July 21st 2012 - 07:45 UTC

  Good signals from the Brazilian economy: inflation picks up in mid July

  

  Consumer prices in Brazil rose faster than expected in the month to mid-July on higher food costs, suggesting the central bank may have less room than previously believed to cut interest rates much further.

• Saturday, July 21st 2012 - 07:32 UTC

  Bad news for Argentina: economy contracts and industrial production slumps

  

  Argentina's economy contracted in May and industrial production slumped further in June, according to government data released on Friday. Economic activity fell 0.5% in May year-on-year, slowing from April's 0.6% growth rate and marking the first contraction in 34 months.

• Saturday, July 21st 2012 - 07:28 UTC

  EU considering a new round of discussions with Mercosur before end of 2012

  

  The European Union - Mercosur trade negotiations calendar has been delayed and its full resumption is expected to take place in September or soon after, reports the EU press office in Montevideo.