Politics

• Tuesday, March 13th 2012 - 07:29 UTC

  Obama and Cameron underline the “unique and essential” US/UK relation

  

  Cameron and Barack Obama have described the “unique and essential” relationship between the US and UK ahead of a visit by the prime minister to Washington. In a joint article for the Washington Post, the two leaders said “the world counts on our alliance”.

• Tuesday, March 13th 2012 - 07:26 UTC

  Brazil extends 6% tax on foreign loans and bonds to help weaken the Real

  

  Brazil extended on Monday a 6% tax on foreign loans and bonds issued abroad by local companies to include lending with duration of as long as five years, the third measure taken this month to weaken the Real. Since March 1, the currency has weakened 5.6%.

• Tuesday, March 13th 2012 - 07:24 UTC

  First deadline for Repsol-YPF: invest or loose concessions in Chubut

  

  Argentine Patagonia Chubut province could move to revoke oil and gas concessions held by Spain’s Repsol controlled oil and gas giant YPF SA as soon as Wednesday, a provincial official said Monday.

• Tuesday, March 13th 2012 - 07:21 UTC

  “Argentina completely ignores the Mercosur treaty and spirit” says Uruguay

  

  Uruguayan Vice-president Danilo Astori strongly criticized the current situation in Mercosur blasting protectionist measures of both Argentina and Brazil, which together with Paraguay are full members of the block

• Tuesday, March 13th 2012 - 07:13 UTC

  An alliance the world can count on

  

  By Barack Obama and David Cameron (*) - Seven decades ago, as our forces began to turn the tide of World War II, Prime Minister Winston Churchill traveled to Washington to coordinate our joint efforts. Our victories on the battlefield proved “what can be achieved by British and Americans working together heart and hand,” he said. “In fact, one might almost feel that if they could keep it up, there is hardly anything they could not do, either in the field of war or in the not less tangled problems of peace.”

• Tuesday, March 13th 2012 - 00:58 UTC

  Morales defends Bolivians right to chew coca leaves at UN anti-drugs meeting

  

  Bolivian President Evo Morales defended Bolivians' right to chew coca leaves, the main ingredient of cocaine, on Monday, saying it was an ancient tradition and the world's No. 3 cocaine producer was working to fight drug trafficking.

• Tuesday, March 13th 2012 - 00:56 UTC

  Italy in recession; Greece receives bail out; Spain the new challenge

  

  Italy is in recession, final data confirmed Monday. Italy's economy shrank 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2011, following a 0.2% decline in GDP in the third quarter.

• Monday, March 12th 2012 - 22:17 UTC

  Trade, political refugees and Falklands’ flights in CFK/Piñera summit agenda

  

  Increasing common infrastructure projects such as tunnels and border crossings between Chile and Argentina will be the main motive of this week’s presidential summit between Sebastian Piñera and Cristina Fernandez.

• Monday, March 12th 2012 - 20:49 UTC

  Argentina expected to announce more protectionist measures this week

  

  Argentina plans to intensify its policy of protecting the trade surplus and impeding the outflow of hard currency and this week is expected to add another one hundred tariff positions which will be submitted to an increase in import levies.

• Monday, March 12th 2012 - 20:05 UTC

  UK minister in Chile accuses Argentina of economic blockade to the Falklands

  

  United Kingdom’s Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne on a two-day visit to Chile criticized what he called the “economic blockade” to the Falklands Islands by saying it “wasn’t right” and again reaffirmed the right of self determination for the Islanders.