Politics

• Tuesday, December 7th 2010 - 08:16 UTC

  Chile outlines conditions for a possible Bolivian access to the Pacific

  

  Chile is willing to cooperate with a sea-outlet for landlocked Bolivia but will not cede sovereignty because “we will never accept something that divides the country in two”, said the Chilean Foreign Affairs minister Alfredo Moreno.

• Tuesday, December 7th 2010 - 08:06 UTC

  Mercosur and Syria scheduled to begin trade negotiations at next summit

  

  Mercosur and Syria are scheduled to sign an agreement to begin trade negotiations at the group’s next summit in Brazil, December 15, according to official sources in Damascus. Syrian president Bashar al-Assad earlier this year visited South America to promote trade and political links, particularly with Brazil that has a large Syrian community.

• Tuesday, December 7th 2010 - 08:05 UTC

  Brazil and U.S. open-skies agreement; fully operational in 2015

  

  Representatives of the United States and Brazil have singed an Open-Skies aviation services agreement which will significantly liberalize U.S.-Brazil air services for airlines of both countries over a transition period, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

• Tuesday, December 7th 2010 - 07:43 UTC

  Wikileaks and Latin America: Same Old Imperious U.S. Diplomats

  

  by Former Senior Research Fellow Nikolas Kozloff
  As more and more documents become available from Wikileaks, the public has gotten a novel and close up view of U.S. diplomats and their operations abroad.

• Tuesday, December 7th 2010 - 02:51 UTC

  Argentina and Mercosur associates recognize the State of Palestine

  

  President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's administration announced Monday via Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman that Argentina recognizes Palestine as “a free and independent state, within the frontiers in existence since 1967.”

• Monday, December 6th 2010 - 05:38 UTC

  Wikileaks messages generate rift at Mar del Plata’s summit on education and democracy

  

  The commitment to end illiteracy in the next five years and the overwhelming approval of a democratic clause in support of institutional democracy was the outstanding consensus of the Ibero-American leaders’ summit held in Mar del Plata hosted by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

• Monday, December 6th 2010 - 05:35 UTC

  Lula da Silva praised the Argentina/Brazil strategic alliance Kirchner helped forge

  

  Brazilian president Lula da Silva praised the late Argentine president Nestor Kirchner saying he was the leader who helped Argentines recover their self-esteem and marked a historic change in relations between Brazil and Argentina.

• Monday, December 6th 2010 - 05:23 UTC

  EU governments’ support for financial sector 4.5 tr Euros; UK top of the list

  

  European Union states have underwritten their financial sectors with 4.5 trillion Euros of aid since the banking crisis hit. Top of the league is the UK, which pledged 850.3bn Euros of support between October 2008 and October 2010.

• Monday, December 6th 2010 - 05:15 UTC

  Germany reaffirms commitment to Euro as markets test EU monetary union

  

  German Finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said financial markets are currently testing whether the Euro zone will survive but he insisted the 16-nation monetary union won't break up. However he also warned about the risk of the emergence of an anti-Euro party.

• Sunday, December 5th 2010 - 23:54 UTC

  “All is possible” regarding President Lula da Silva comeback in 2014

  

  Brazilian president Lula da Silva who steps down next January first could run for a third mandate in 2014, according to cabinet Secretary general Gilberto Carvalho.