Politics

• Monday, December 13th 2010 - 01:08 UTC

  President Lugo confirms he will not attend the Mercosur summit

  

  Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo confirmed Sunday he would not be participating of the Mercosur summit next December 17, unless there is a quick solution to the blockade of Paraguayan trade by Argentine maritime unions, announced Sunday afternoon Foreign Affaire minister Hector Lacognata.

• Saturday, December 11th 2010 - 06:08 UTC

  Torture a routine practice for authorities across the globe, says ACAT

  

  In Latin America the heritage of decades of military dictatorship means that “recourse to violent methods, notably torture, remains widespread among the security forces”, says a report from the Paris based Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT).-.

• Saturday, December 11th 2010 - 06:01 UTC

  Mercosur summit threatened by Argentine boycott on Paraguayan foreign trade

  

  A Mercosur internal conflict involving Argentina and Paraguay which is conditioning the coming presidential summit in Brazil and has again suspended a vote for Venezuela’s final incorporation to the group, seems to have escalated in the last 24 hours.

• Saturday, December 11th 2010 - 00:34 UTC

  Brazil’s Embraer moves into the defence and security industry

  

  Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer on Friday unveiled a new subsidiary to focus solely on the defence and security industry, in a further move beyond from its core civil aviation business. The company said in a statement its new Embraer Defence and Security unit will be headed by Chief Financial Officer Luiz Carlos Aguiar.

• Saturday, December 11th 2010 - 00:30 UTC

  Barcelona signs £ 125 million commercial shirt-sponsorship deal with Qatar

  

  One of Spain’s two most popular and successful football clubs, Barcelona has signed their first ever commercial shirt sponsorship deal after agreeing a record £125m contract with the Qatar Foundation.

• Friday, December 10th 2010 - 10:25 UTC

  Falklands invites C-24 president to “balance” recent visit to Argentina

  

  The Falkland Islands government has officially extended an invitation to the chairman of the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization Ambassador (C 24), Donatus Keith St. Aimee to visit the South Atlantic Islands with the purpose of ‘balancing’ a recent similar invitation from Argentina and to defend the Falklands’ people right to exercise self-determination.

• Friday, December 10th 2010 - 06:15 UTC

  Russia’s Putin says Assange arrest shows the West has problems with democracy

  

  Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange shows the West has its own problems with democracy.

• Friday, December 10th 2010 - 05:54 UTC

  Lula da Silva supports Assange and asks what about freedom of expression?

  

  Brazilian President Lula da Silva defended Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks.org website that published more than 250,000 of U.S. diplomatic cables sent to or from embassies around the world and asked where are those rabid defenders of freedom of expression.

• Friday, December 10th 2010 - 04:31 UTC

  Venezuela’s Mercosur incorporation hostage of Argentine/Paraguay conflict

  

  Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo for the second time in a year withdrew the request from Congress for the approval of Venezuela’s incorporation as a full member of Mercosur. This leaves the issue for next year.

• Friday, December 10th 2010 - 02:15 UTC

  Infrastructure loan to improve living conditions in Rio do Janeiro’s favelas

  

  Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s second biggest city will receive a 150 million US dollars loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to improve living conditions in low-income neighborhoods, known as favelas.