Politics

• Saturday, June 11th 2011 - 11:16 UTC

  President Mujica claims attempts to weaken him government “so I have to leave”

  

  A controversy over land taxes inside the Uruguayan government exposed claims from President Jose Mujica that “meetings are taking place to debilitate his administration and even possibly remove him”

• Saturday, June 11th 2011 - 11:00 UTC

  Palocci resigns to his post as member of Petrobras Administration Council

  

  Petrobras announced Friday in an official release that President Dilma Rousseff’s administration former chief of staff Antonio Palocci had resigned to his post in the Administration Council of the country’s oil and gas state-controlled corporation.

• Saturday, June 11th 2011 - 10:52 UTC

  Italy recalls ambassador on Brazil’s refusal to extradite four-murder terrorist

  

  Italy recalled its ambassador to Brazil on Friday after Brasilia refused to extradite a former left-wing guerrilla convicted of four murders. The decision by Brazil's Supreme Court earlier this week to uphold a government refusal to extradite Italian Cesare Battisti, allowing him to walk free, has brought relations between the two countries to a low point.

• Saturday, June 11th 2011 - 10:47 UTC

  Hillary Clinton denies pursuing the post of World Bank President

  

  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was not in discussions over the top job at the World Bank and that she was not pursing the post. Clinton is in Zambia as part of a five-day Africa trip that is being overshadowed by news that she had expressed interest in moving to head the World Bank.

• Saturday, June 11th 2011 - 10:09 UTC

  Colombia signs landmark “Victims Law” to redress victims of internal conflict

  

  Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos signed into law Friday a landmark “Victims' Law” aimed at redressing the estimated 4 million victims of the country's long-running internal running conflict.

• Saturday, June 11th 2011 - 10:06 UTC

  Countries succumbing to protectionism, says an advance of WTO document

  

  The world's trading nations are succumbing to protectionism in the wake of the global financial crisis, limiting exports of food and raw materials and installing new import barriers, the WTO warned.

• Saturday, June 11th 2011 - 09:48 UTC

  EU challenges and opportunities with Mercosur and Latin America

  

  By Antonio Tajani - The challenges and opportunities in Latin America are dear to my heart. This is the first time in many years that a European Commissioner for industry heads to the region. And it is not by chance that I strongly wished to go, as this was a priority set in my new mandate.

• Friday, June 10th 2011 - 05:10 UTC

  China and Uruguay sign 17 cooperation accords and 530m USD trade package

  

  Visiting Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping signed Wednesday in Uruguay 17 cooperation agreements and trade contracts for the purchase of 530 million US dollars in Uruguayan goods before leaving for Chile the third leg of his tour of Latin America.

• Friday, June 10th 2011 - 03:22 UTC

  Brazil promises full cooperation to Peruvian president-elect Humala

  

  Peruvian president-elect Ollanta Humala was received on Thursday with “a wide offer of cooperation in all fields” in Brazil, the first stop in his regional-visits round following his Sunday victory.

• Friday, June 10th 2011 - 02:50 UTC

  Paraguayan Senate approves Unasur charter; new Venezuela Mercosur bid

  

  The Paraguayan Senate approved the Unasur, Union of South American Nations charter and treaty which were signed by the Executive in May 2008. The next step is in the Lower House which will then formalize Paraguay’s full membership of the group.