Politics

• Tuesday, April 12th 2011 - 17:57 UTC

  Mercosur trade integration insufficient to guarantee free circulation, claims EU

  

  Several European Union objections to the current functioning of Mercosur have surfaced in documents relative to the ongoing trade negotiations round which is scheduled to have another chapter early May in Asunción, Paraguay.

• Tuesday, April 12th 2011 - 17:08 UTC

  The Lynx Mk3 takes off from HMS Ocean for the last time

  

  After more than 30 years’ service one of the mainstays of Britain’s Fleet Air Arm, including the Ice Patrol, has made its final appearance at sea, reports the Royal Navy. Nearly four decades to the day that the very first Lynx helicopter took to the skies, a Mk3 variant lifted off from the sprawling flight deck of HMS Ocean.

• Tuesday, April 12th 2011 - 16:13 UTC

  China to keep buying Spanish public debt and invest in financial industry

  

  China will invest in Spain’s savings-bank industry and continue buying public debt, a Spanish government official cited Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao as telling Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero at a meeting Tuesday in Beijing.

• Tuesday, April 12th 2011 - 15:58 UTC

  Humala and Keiko will have to convince the 45% middle of the road vote

  

  With 90% of Sunday’s presidential election ballots counted Peru is headed for a runoff between nationalist Ollanta Humala and former lawmaker Keiko Fujimori, a choice many voters in the country’s surging middle and upper classes might have trouble swallowing.

• Tuesday, April 12th 2011 - 04:25 UTC

  Humala’s run off with Keiko Fujimori; Peruvian economy faces overheating

  

  Peru’s presidential election on Sunday will have a second round of voting between Ollanta Humala and Keiko Fujimori on 5th June, according to the latest official percentages which indicate the nationalist former Army officer has 31.75% of the vote and the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, 23.29%, quite distanced from Pedro Pablo Kuczynski’s (PPK) 18.8%.

• Tuesday, April 12th 2011 - 04:20 UTC

  IMF presents report to develop a new consumer price index in Argentina

  

  The IMF has presented a report to Argentine authorities with specific recommendations for developing a new, nationwide consumer price index to replace the much-criticized current index, the fund said in a press release Monday.

• Tuesday, April 12th 2011 - 03:51 UTC

  German Literature Nobel Prize Guntther Grass warns of an “eco-dictatorship”

  

  German Nobel Prize winner Gunther Grass fears that the nuclear disaster in Japan and other environmental issues could lead to an “eco-dictatorship”, according to an interview published in the “Haumburger Abenbdblatt”.

• Monday, April 11th 2011 - 23:50 UTC

  FT forecasts Spain will be next in seeking financial assistance

  

  The mix of high external indebtedness, the fragility of the financial sector and the probability of further declines in asset prices increase the probability of a funding squeeze at some point means that “Spain will be the next country to seek financial assistance from the EU and the International Monetary Fund”, argues one of the Financial Times respected columnists.

• Monday, April 11th 2011 - 22:32 UTC

  Barcelona in unofficial referendum votes for independence from Spain

  

  The citizens of the Spanish city of Barcelona voted on Sunday by more than 90% in favor of independence for the province of Catalonia from the central government in Madrid.

• Monday, April 11th 2011 - 21:09 UTC

  Brazil aware its relation with China raises the risk of “Dutch Disease”

  

  President Rousseff arrived in Beijing Monday to begin a state visit to China that will incorporate Thursday’s summit of BRIC leaders. However Ms Rousseff’s trip to China is symbolically important since it is her first overseas visit outside Latin America and underlines the growing importance of the Brazil/China relationship, points out Capital Economics.