Politics

• Monday, August 8th 2011 - 19:52 UTC

  Obama calls for ‘political will’ to address situation; ‘US will always be triple-A’

  

  Stock markets extended their heavy losses on Monday despite US President Barack Obama moving to try to reassure investors. In his first public reaction to Standard & Poor's downgrading the US, President Obama said markets continued to regard US government debt as being the highest possible grade.

• Monday, August 8th 2011 - 11:28 UTC

  European Central Bank expected to buy Italian and Spanish bonds

  

  The European Central Bank has said it will buy Euro zone bonds, following emergency talks on the debt crisis. ECB did not say which bonds it would buy but analysts expect them to be from Italy and Spain.

• Monday, August 8th 2011 - 05:36 UTC

  Argentina’s second electoral district elects incumbent candidate for governor

  

  Argentina’s second electoral district voted on Sunday for incumbent candidate, Jose Manuel de la Sota as the next governor of the province of Cordoba.

• Monday, August 8th 2011 - 04:54 UTC

  Brazilian military warn incoming Defence minister forces are ‘non political, non partisan’

  

  A Brazilian retired general and former commander of UN forces in Haiti warned the new Defence minister Celso Amorim to avoid giving the Armed Forces command a ‘left-wing ideological imprint’.

• Monday, August 8th 2011 - 04:37 UTC

  Brazilean President Rousseff looses another top official to corruption

  

  The Brazilian congressional opposition promised to block legislative work in both Houses until the government accepts the creation of a Special Investigation Commission, CPI, to look into alleged corruption practices in several ministries from the administration of President Dilma Rousseff.

• Monday, August 8th 2011 - 04:03 UTC

  Sarkozy thanks CFK for the investigation of the murder of two French tourists

  

  French President Nicolas Sarkozy called President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, CFK, on Sunday in order to “personally thank her for the outstanding job” carried out by local authorities in the investigation of the murder of two French tourists in Salta.

• Monday, August 8th 2011 - 03:48 UTC

  For Argentina Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty legitimacy conditions any other negotiation

  

  Argentina is not going to make things easy for Britain in the Falkland Islands and the first discussion, before any other issues are addressed, must be the legitimacy of the Malvinas Islands sovereignty, said Argentine Defence Minister Arturo Puricelli in a Sunday interview by Carolina Barrios published in the Buenos Aires Herald.

• Saturday, August 6th 2011 - 08:41 UTC

  Canadian PM will visit Brazil, Colombia and Central America

  

  Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper will visit Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica and Honduras from August 8 to 12 to promote trade and investments, reinforce democratic governance and advance common security, according to a release from the PM’s office.

• Saturday, August 6th 2011 - 08:21 UTC

  Unasur ready for potential balance of payments deficit caused by the North’s crisis

  

  The Union of South American nations (Unasur), meeting in Peru Friday the region is well-positioned to withstand a sharper global downturn but want to insulate their economies further from a crisis of confidence they blame on Europe and the United States.

• Saturday, August 6th 2011 - 08:15 UTC

  US voters furious: disapproval of Congress rises to an all-time high of 82%

  

  Disapproval of the United States Congress rose to an all-time high after weeks of rancorous partisan battles over raising the US debt ceiling took the country to the brink of default, according a New York Times/CBS News public opinion poll published on Friday.