Politics

• Monday, May 9th 2011 - 00:53 UTC

  Two-day strategic and economic dialogue between US and China

  

  Top US and Chinese officials will be meeting for two days in Washington, starting this Monday. The heads of 16 US government agencies and representatives from 20 Chinese government departments will discuss the most difficult issues in a complex, interdependent relationship.

• Monday, May 9th 2011 - 00:47 UTC

  Ecuador’s Correa wins referendum to tighten grip on the Judiciary and the press

  

  Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa claimed victory in a referendum on government and social reforms that critics have charged is a disguised attempt to consolidate more power in a still fragile democracy.

• Saturday, May 7th 2011 - 04:52 UTC

  Lack of serious opposition ensures Cristina Fernandez re-election next October

  

  With less than six months to the October election President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner leads comfortably, with no serious opposition on site, and with a public opinion support of 56%, similar to when she first took office in December 2007.

• Saturday, May 7th 2011 - 04:51 UTC

  Burton’s MP travels to Falklands to experience life with British armed forces

  

  Burton’s Member of Parliament Andrew Griffiths is flying to the Falkland Islands to experience life there with the British armed forces, reports Burton Mail. MP Griffiths will travel to the South Atlantic with the RAF under the All Parliamentary Armed Services Scheme, ‘a mini- Territorial Army for MPs’.

• Saturday, May 7th 2011 - 04:49 UTC

  UK overwhelmingly rejects changing MP’s first-past-the-post electoral system

  

  UK has voted overwhelmingly to reject changing the way MPs are elected - dealing a bitter blow to Nick Clegg on top of heavy Lib Dem poll losses. Officials say 19.1m people voted in the second UK-wide referendum in history - a higher than expected turnout of 41%.

• Saturday, May 7th 2011 - 04:47 UTC

  Greek exit from Euro zone becomes an option; Portugal faces two-year recession

  

  Top finance officials of the Euro zone's biggest economies met to discuss Greece's debt crisis and Athens denied a media report that it was considering whether to leave the block.

• Friday, May 6th 2011 - 17:29 UTC

  Brazil’s inflation peaks in April, but prices should begin slowing down in May

  

  Brazil’s benchmark consumer price index in April exceeded the upper limit of the government’s target range for the first time since 2005 but officials are confident April was a peak and during May the tendency is for inflation to decelerate.

• Friday, May 6th 2011 - 17:28 UTC

  EU farmers insist with the “catastrophic impact” of trade agreement with Mercosur

  

  European farm leaders have left Members of the European Parliament in no doubt about the ‘catastrophic impact’ on EU agriculture of a trade agreement with Mercosur, reports the Friday edition of the UK’s Farmers Guardian.

• Friday, May 6th 2011 - 06:26 UTC

  Malvinas events overshadowed by Royal Wedding, complains Argentine minister

  

  Argentine Defence Secretary Arturo Puricelli said he was disappointed with the “excessive coverage” granted by the Argentine media to the Royal Wedding and regretted so little attention was given to the commemoration of Malvinas conflict events.

• Friday, May 6th 2011 - 06:17 UTC

  Brazil’s high court unanimously recognizes rights of same-sex couples

  

  Brazil's Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that the nation should recognize same-sex unions. The court voted 10-0 in favor of recognizing the unions. One justice abstained because he had spoken publicly in favor of same-sex unions when he was attorney general.