Politics

• Tuesday, December 27th 2011 - 13:52 UTC

  Cuba advances with capitalist reforms to install efficient market economy

  

  Cuba will open up more of the country's retail services to the private sector next year, allowing Cubans to operate various services such as appliance and watch repair, and locksmith and carpentry shops, official media reported on Monday.

• Tuesday, December 27th 2011 - 09:43 UTC

  How US campaigns and elections shaped politics across the world

  

  * By Andrew Hammond - The eyes of much of North America and South America will this coming year be on the US presidential and congressional elections as Democrats and Republicans fight it out for control of the White House, the US House of Representatives, and the US Senate. The ballots could have key implications not just for US domestic issues, but also US foreign policy across the Americas region, including in Cuba and Venezuela.

• Tuesday, December 27th 2011 - 07:04 UTC

  Chile confirms it supports Mercosur resolution barring Falklands’ flagged vessels

  

  Chilean government Secretary General Andres Chadwick denied on Monday any official message from Britain or from Spain regarding Chilean support for the resolution that bars vessels flying the Malvinas flag from Mercosur ports, reports La Tercera from Santiago.

• Monday, December 26th 2011 - 18:07 UTC

  “Except for Malvinas, we have a very good dialogue with the UK”, says Almagro

  

  Leaving aside the current diplomatic situation with the UK because of the Uruguayan government decision to bar Malvinas’ flagged vessels from local ports, “we have a very good dialogue with Great Britain” said Uruguayan Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro.

• Monday, December 26th 2011 - 17:25 UTC

  “Falkland Islands don’t want to join Argentina”

  

  From Monday's Globe and Mail (*)
  The Falkland Islands, a windswept archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, are a British Overseas Territory, and have been since 1833. The 3,000 inhabitants of this Island are proud to be British subjects, and no amount of Argentine huffing or puffing will change that.

• Monday, December 26th 2011 - 17:23 UTC

  ARA Belgrano was heading to the Falklands, secret papers reveal

  

  By Thomas Harding, The Telegraph Defense Correspondent. The following article referred to the major naval incident of the Falklands’ conflict was published Monday 26 December. Top secret papers are set to prove that the warship ARA Belgrano was heading into the Falkland's exclusion zone when it was sunk in May 1982, and not heading back to port as the Argentines claimed.

• Monday, December 26th 2011 - 11:27 UTC

  “People must know full facts” about Argentina’s intentions in the Falklands

  

  Many Members of Parliament and in the Lords, from all parties, are totally committed to standing up for the Falkland Islands and rebutting the actions of Argentina, according to Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell and Secretary of the Falkland Islands Group in Westminster. He added people must know the true facts and intentions behind Argentina’s actions.

• Monday, December 26th 2011 - 11:24 UTC

  Duke of Edinburgh remains under observation; misses Boxing Day shoot

  

  Duke of Edinburgh is to remain under observation after a third night in hospital, and is set to miss the Royal Family's Boxing Day shoot. The shoot, usually led by the Duke, is expected to go ahead as planned.

• Monday, December 26th 2011 - 11:21 UTC

  Falklands’ flagged vessels: Spanish fishermen call on Madrid to fight Argentine blackmail

  

  The President of the Spanish Association of Marine Fishing Officers (Aetinape), José Manuel Muniz, has asked the new Spanish government to get involved and act against the pressure placed on Falklands-flagged vessels by the Argentines, according to an article in the Galician newspaper Faro de Vigo, which examined the Spanish reaction to the ban on the entry of Falklands flagged vessels to Mercosur ports.

• Monday, December 26th 2011 - 11:19 UTC

  China and Argentina ratify crossed support for Taiwan and Falklands’ claims

  

  China ratified support for Argentina’s sovereignty claim over the Falkland Islands. The message was delivered last week by Chinese President Hu Jintao's special envoy Jiang Shusheng and vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and is part of the reciprocal policy in support of Taiwan as a province of China.