Politics

• Wednesday, January 18th 2012 - 05:19 UTC

  Chavez and Putin agree to defend independence and sovereignty of Syria and Iran

  

  The sovereignty of Syria and Iran should be defended against 'foreign interferences' and from the siege of ‘colonial powers’ Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin agreed during a telephone conversation, according to the Venezuelan Foreign Affairs ministry.

• Wednesday, January 18th 2012 - 05:06 UTC

  Argentina wins US appeal against ruling awarding compensation to British Gas

  

  Argentina won a US appeals court decision throwing out a 185 million dollar award to the UK BG Group Plc, which claimed the country’s freeze on natural gas prices caused the bankruptcy of a local gas distributor it controlled.

• Wednesday, January 18th 2012 - 03:08 UTC

  Relief for Humala as second vice-president finally resigns over corruption claims

  

  Peruvian Vice President Omar Chehade has resigned over corruption allegations but lawmakers expect him to try to hang onto his seat in Congress, where he could face an expulsion vote later this week.

• Wednesday, January 18th 2012 - 02:58 UTC

  HMS Montrose on patrol in South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands

  

  The Royal Navy Type 23 frigate HMS Montrose”, with a crew of 185 made a several days patrol visit to South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, GSSI, waters in December.

• Tuesday, January 17th 2012 - 07:00 UTC

  Brazil economy rebounds in November boosted by domestic consumer spending

  

  Brazil’s economy grew at its fastest pace in 19 months in November, reversing a three-month contraction, as a recovery in consumer spending helped Latin America’s largest economy shrug off a global slowdown. Yields on interest rate futures rose.

• Tuesday, January 17th 2012 - 06:44 UTC

  S&P downgrades the European Stability Facility but willing to reconsider

  

  Credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s downgraded the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) from “AAA” to “AA+,” although it does not rule out it would increase it again if it bolsters its funds, according to a communiqué released on Monday.

• Tuesday, January 17th 2012 - 06:41 UTC

  Argentine government and Moyano try to set ground rules for future relationship

  

  In another round of the ongoing battle between the Argentina government and the leader of organized labour Hugo Moyano, Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo stated that “if the union leaders are really representatives of the working class, there is no possibility of a divorce between the CGT Labour Confederation and the national government”.

• Monday, January 16th 2012 - 19:32 UTC

  Falklands’ conflict gunner meets Skyhawk pilot he shot down, at his home in Argentina

  

  A Royal Navy veteran from the Falklands War has completed an extraordinary journey to meet the Argentine pilot he thought he had shot down and killed during the 1982 conflict.

• Monday, January 16th 2012 - 19:29 UTC

  Landless peasants with 80 families occupy and take over farm in north of Uruguay

  

  The landless peasants’ movement has reached Uruguay: the self called “shaggy” ones with eighty families, have taken over a 400 hectares farm in the extreme north of the country Artigas, and have been occupying the land since.

• Monday, January 16th 2012 - 19:20 UTC

  Minister recalls Captain Scott’s South Pole feat and heralds work of UK polar scientists

  

  On the eve of the centenary of Royal Navy Captain Robert Scott reaching the South Pole, Foreign Office Minister Henry Bellingham has heralded the work of British polar scientists in helping to shape the understanding needed for managing climate change and contributing to the UK’s work for the peaceful protection of Antarctica.