Politics

• Tuesday, May 17th 2011 - 03:29 UTC

  Organized labour ignores warnings and keeps pressure on Argentine president

  

  Argentina’s organized labour continued Monday with its aggressive offensive to have unionist included in the pro-ruling party’s ballot tickets for next October presidential election arguing that Argentines from all walks of life have been invited to participate in politics, ‘but not union members’.

• Tuesday, May 17th 2011 - 03:22 UTC

  Argentina makes official October 23 as Election Day

  

  Argentina formally announced Monday dates for the general election that will take place next October 23, when voters will choose President, Vice President, half of the Lower House and Senators from eight of 24 provinces

• Tuesday, May 17th 2011 - 01:15 UTC

  Budget dispute forces US to appeal to pensions’ funds to pay the country’s bills

  

  United States reached the legal limits of its borrowing authority as a top Republican increased his party's demand for deep spending cuts as part of any increase. The remarks by Representative Paul Ryan, the top budget writer in the House of Representatives, underscored the divisions that Republicans and Democrats will have to overcome in order to raise the 14.3 trillion US dollars debt limit and avoid a default that would roil markets across the globe.

• Tuesday, May 17th 2011 - 00:56 UTC

  Support for Uruguay president drops to 41%, down from 75% when taking office

  

  Support for Uruguayan president Jose Mujica dropped to 41%, nine percentage points less than last March and 34 points down from when he took office in March 2010, according to an Interconsult public opinion poll published Monday in one of Montevideo’s dailies.

• Tuesday, May 17th 2011 - 00:44 UTC

  Euro aid package for Portugal approved but private bond holders also involved

  

  Euro zone finance ministers approved Monday a three-year, 78-billion Euro emergency loan program for Portugal and said Lisbon would ask private bondholders to maintain their exposure to its debt.

• Tuesday, May 17th 2011 - 00:38 UTC

  Overwhelming majority of Chileans reject hydroelectric project in Patagonia

  

  Opposition to the HydroAysén dam and power line project grew throughout Chile this past week in the wake of massive demonstrations protesting the project’s approval on Monday May 9 in southern Chile.

• Tuesday, May 17th 2011 - 00:30 UTC

  Food inflation in Latam eased during the first quarter, says FAO

  

  Food inflation in Latin America and the Caribbean decreased to 1.9% during the first quarter of this year according to a report from the regional office from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, released Monday.

• Monday, May 16th 2011 - 20:33 UTC

  IMF chief denied bail remains in custody in New York

  

  IMF Dominique Straus-Kahn, accused of attempting to rape a hotel housekeeper, was ordered held without bail by a New York judge after prosecutors argued he presented a flight risk.

• Monday, May 16th 2011 - 17:51 UTC

  Argentine court rules prescription of abuses and tortures against Malvinas conscripts

  

  The cases of abuse, ill treatment, torture and alleged homicides committed against Argentines conscripts by their officers, some of them still on active service, during the 1982 Malvinas war were declared prescribed.

• Monday, May 16th 2011 - 16:04 UTC

  Plastic made HMS Ramsey mine-hunter heads for the Middle East

  

  A Royal Navy warship that was made from plastic rather than metal to avoid triggering mines was due to set sail to the Gulf from its base at Faslane. HMS Ramsey was made from glass-reinforced plastic so can get near mines where other Navy ships cannot.