Politics

• Thursday, June 17th 2010 - 02:39 UTC

  Paraguayan Senator admits talks to support Venezuela’s Mercosur incorporation

  

  In spite of a specific mandate to vote against the incorporation of Venezuela to Mercosur, the Colorado party which is the single strongest force in the Paraguayan senate could reconsider the situation according to Martin Chiola, first Vice-president of the Upper House.

• Thursday, June 17th 2010 - 01:44 UTC

  EU/Mercosur trade talks to take off end of June in Buenos Aires

  

  Trade talks between the European Commission and Mercosur will begin at the end of the month, June 29 in Buenos Aires, according to EC sources. Talks are scheduled to last for over a year and expected to receive strong criticism from EU farmers’ organizations.

• Thursday, June 17th 2010 - 00:50 UTC

  Argentina must accept Falklands’ people wish to remain British

  

  The Argentine government must accept that the Falklands people have expressed their democratic wish to remain British and that the Falklands government will resist all colonial aspirations from Argentina, said Sukey Cameron MBE, the Islands representative in London during the annual reception on Wednesday.

• Wednesday, June 16th 2010 - 05:31 UTC

  Argentine pickets insist with pollution controls inside Uruguayan pulp mill

  

  Argentine pickets who have been blocking since 2006 a bridge leading to neighbouring Uruguay to protest the construction of a pulp mill on the Uruguayan side said they are open to negotiations.

• Wednesday, June 16th 2010 - 04:52 UTC

  Brazil denies, and will not accept, contacts with Falklands’ oil industry

  

  The Brazilian government denied that the Falkland Islands “have been looking for business options in Brazil” specifically linked to hydrocarbons exploration, according to the head of the South American Desk at the Brazilian Foreign Affairs ministry.

• Wednesday, June 16th 2010 - 04:48 UTC

  European leaders criticize risk-rating agencies for downgrading Greek debt

  

  Moody's decision to downgrade Greek debt was ill-advised and ill-timed, European Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said, adding that it cast fresh doubt on risk-ratings agencies.

• Wednesday, June 16th 2010 - 04:41 UTC

  Afghanistan future formidable competitor of Chile in copper and lithium

  

  Nearly one trillion US dollars of untapped mineral resources have been found in Afghanistan by US officials, including iron, copper, cobalt, gold, and lithium.

• Wednesday, June 16th 2010 - 04:39 UTC

  Buenos Aires has 15.000 ‘reported’ homeless of which 4.500 children

  

  At least 15.000 people live in the streets of Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires where last year 113 died because of the cold or lack of medical assistance, warned a report from a Non Government Organization, Doctors of the World and Project 7.

• Wednesday, June 16th 2010 - 04:26 UTC

  Switzerland closer to handing list of suspected US tax-evaders

  

  Switzerland's parliament has voted to approve a deal which would see information on suspected tax-evaders be passed to US authorities. The Lower House of the Swiss parliament backed the agreement 81 to 61 with 53 abstentions, reversing its earlier decision to reject the agreement last week.

• Wednesday, June 16th 2010 - 04:24 UTC

  Unasur fearful of overlapping with the Andean Pact and Mercosur

  

  The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) Secretary General Néstor Kirchner said on Tuesday he hopes for the block to “create profound policies in the region” but without overlapping on other regional organizations such as Mercosur.