Politics

• Thursday, March 15th 2012 - 14:29 UTC

  Wen Jibao calls for ‘urgent reform; warns against another ‘Cultural Revolution’

  

  Chinese Premier Wen Jibao made a strong pitch for political reforms in the Communist ruled country, warning that a failure to carry out structural corrections could unleash the upheaval of another Cultural Revolution.

• Thursday, March 15th 2012 - 06:20 UTC

  “Self-determination is the right path for the Falkland Islands”

  

  To affirm the Special Relationship, Barack Obama should offer his support to the islanders, writes Jim Sensenbrenner.

• Thursday, March 15th 2012 - 06:16 UTC

  Uruguay peacekeepers in Sinai surrounded by protesting Bedouins

  

  Uruguay said Wednesday a contingent of its soldiers serving as peacekeepers in the Sinai have been trapped in their base by Bedouins demanding the release of four colleagues imprisoned in Egypt.

• Thursday, March 15th 2012 - 06:09 UTC

  IMF confirms closing offices in Mongolia, Lebanon and G-20 member Argentina

  

  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will close its Buenos Aires office in protest to Domestic Trade Secretary Guillermo Moreno’s decision to accuse the organization in court, urging it to explain how it calculates Argentina’s inflation rate, sources said.

• Thursday, March 15th 2012 - 06:07 UTC

  YPF survival battle to remain private took off in two Patagonian provinces

  

  The governments of the Patagonian provinces of Chubut and Santa Cruz announced the termination of the contract of exploitation of four different oil wells that YPF handles in the Gulf San Jorge and that both provinces share. Spain’s Repsol, the oil giant that controls YPF has announced it will file a lawsuit against the measure.

• Thursday, March 15th 2012 - 03:24 UTC

  Chile/UK respect ‘legitimate differences’ but say NO to a blockade of the Faklands

  

  Foreign Office minister Jeremy Browne and Chilean Foreign Affairs Minister Alfredo Moreno agreed to respect their legitimate differences regarding the Argentine/UK dispute over the Falklands’ sovereignty but also emphasized the Chilean (and other Mercosur members) position contrary to an economic blockade of the Islands or isolating its population.

• Thursday, March 15th 2012 - 02:52 UTC

  Cristina Fernandez censors television program; former CNN reporter privileged witness

  

  A former CNN in Spanish journalist Alberto Padilla was a privileged witness of censorship in Argentina, minutes before he was to be interviewed by a television channel in Buenos Aires: “the order to stop the program came directly from (Federal planning) minister De Vido”.

• Thursday, March 15th 2012 - 00:28 UTC

  UK youth unemployment at its highest in two decades: 22.5%

  

  United Kingdom’s unemployment rate held at a 13-year high of 8.4% in the three months to January, and the youth unemployment rate rose to a record high, official data showed Wednesday.

• Thursday, March 15th 2012 - 00:23 UTC

  All but four of US main banks pass ‘strain test’; Citi among the failed

  

  All but four of 19 major United States banks got a green light yesterday to boost dividends and buy back shares after the Federal Reserve declared them strong enough to survive another serious recession.

• Wednesday, March 14th 2012 - 23:26 UTC

  The Lady out of control: appeals to “Nazi, Mengele and anti Semitism” to attack the media

  

  Argentine president Cristina Fernandez used the words “Nazi, Mengele and a scent of anti-Semitism” to describe a couple of articles in Buenos Aires leading newspapers which revealed the ups and downs in ‘palace intrigues” and a second critical of the expanding power of her son Maximo Kirchner with the youth organization La Campora.