Politics

• Friday, December 3rd 2010 - 06:24 UTC

  Mexican top officials admit loosing control of parts of the country to drug cartels

  

  Several top Mexican officials admitted the government was in danger of losing control of parts of the country to powerful drug cartels, according to U.S. State Department documents made public by WikiLeaks.

• Friday, December 3rd 2010 - 06:21 UTC

  Havana launches debate on neo-capitalism and “the future of the Cuban Nation”

  

  Cuba began this week a public debate over landmark plans to lift the island's struggling economy and “preserve the revolution’s victories” by liberalizing some private enterprise, admitting small farmers private property, streamlining the vast state bureaucracy by leaving redundant a half-million workers.

• Friday, December 3rd 2010 - 06:18 UTC

  IMF chiefs rules out double-dip recession, praises South American countries

  

  IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn ruled out any possibility of an impending double-dip recession even as he warned against downward risks posing the countries while they were recuperating, albeit languidly.

• Friday, December 3rd 2010 - 06:13 UTC

  IMF prepares for crisis scenario: plans to double lending capacity to 450 billion

  

  IMF expects to double its lending capacity to 450 billion US dollars over the next few months, giving it additional firepower to deal with the sovereign-debt crisis engulfing Europe, according to IMF officials and documents.

• Thursday, December 2nd 2010 - 23:05 UTC

  Relief in Euro zone as ECB extends availability of emergency loans to banks

  

  The European Central Bank moved Thursday to contain the continent's government debt crisis, extending the availability of emergency loans and keeping its benchmark lending rate at one percent.

• Thursday, December 2nd 2010 - 21:25 UTC

  Uruguay praises Unasur; no agreement yet on next secretary general

  

  Unasur has been a fundamental factor of stability, democracy and peace for the region said Uruguay’s Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro, following on Uruguay’s Parliament’s ratification of the group’s founding charter and constitution. However Almagro admitted consensus on a name for Secretary General of Unasur is still pending.

• Thursday, December 2nd 2010 - 20:13 UTC

  Argentina accused of not defending indigenous groups’ human rights

  

  Argentina’s Advocate General Office and a humanitarian organization called for the intervention of the Inter American Human Rights Commission, CIDH, to ensure the physical integrity of the indigenous Toba community in the northern province of Formosa following incidents with police forces that left two people killed.

• Thursday, December 2nd 2010 - 19:44 UTC

  Opposition target plans for ‘AeroDilma’, 300 million USD Airbus 320

  

  The Brazilian opposition has criticized the purchase of a new presidential aircraft for president-elect Dilma Rousseff claiming it is excessively luxurious and expensive.

• Thursday, December 2nd 2010 - 06:32 UTC

  Ambitious Ibero-American conference takes off in Mar del Plata

  

  The coming XX Ibero-American summit which opens next Friday in Mar del Plata, Argentina will have as main objective a commitment from the 22 country members to invest 76 billion Euros in education during the next decade.

• Thursday, December 2nd 2010 - 04:00 UTC

  Argentina takes Falklands’ sovereignty claims to the Maritime Organization

  

  Argentina renewed this week its sovereignty claims over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands and accused the United Kingdom of deliberately not complying with the International Maritime Organization regulations by exposing the security of shipping in the South Atlantic.