Politics

• Wednesday, August 18th 2010 - 19:16 UTC

  Australian PM wants to cut ties with British monarchy and establish a republic

  

  Australia should drop its ties to the British monarchy when the Queen’s reign ends, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said this week in the midst of national election campaigning.

• Wednesday, August 18th 2010 - 19:01 UTC

  Printed media also victim of Venezuelan rampant crime

  

  A judge in Venezuela has ruled that all printed news media cannot publish “violent, bloody or grotesque” photographs for the next 30 days because the pictures can cause psychological and moral harm to children.

• Wednesday, August 18th 2010 - 05:16 UTC

  Argentine Catholic Church reiterates “concern” with insecurity increase

  

  The Catholic Church again expressed “concern” about the increase in crime and insecurity during the opening of the 156th Episcopate Permanent Committee Summit presided by Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio.

• Wednesday, August 18th 2010 - 05:12 UTC

  Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff closer to winning in the first round

  

  Brazilian presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff widened her lead to 11 percentage points over opposition candidate Jose Serra, putting her in position to win in the first round of the October election, according to an Ibope poll published by the TV Globo network.

• Wednesday, August 18th 2010 - 05:02 UTC

  Brazilian journalists challenge law which forbids satirizing candidates

  

  An election law from the era of Brazil's dictatorship past which forbids making fun of candidates has caused concern ahead of the countries October 3 presidential election and a possible run-off at the end of October.

• Wednesday, August 18th 2010 - 04:53 UTC

  Military exercise to defend the Panama Canal brings together 18 countries

  

  More than 2,000 civilian and military personnel from 18 countries began a 12-day exercise in Panama City Tuesday to train in a joint, multinational effort to defend the Panama Canal.

• Wednesday, August 18th 2010 - 04:40 UTC

  Constitutional Court says US/Colombia military accord must pass Congress

  

  Colombia's Constitutional Court suspended a deal giving US troops more access to Colombian bases, sending the agreement back to President Juan Manuel Santos to seek congressional approval.

• Wednesday, August 18th 2010 - 03:53 UTC

  Piñera condemns links of Chile’s communists, Mapuche militants and FARC

  

  Responding to a recent document linking activists from the indigenous Mapuches and Chile's Communist Party to Colombian guerrilla group FARC, President Sebastián Piñera condemned any collaboration between Chileans and violent groups.

• Wednesday, August 18th 2010 - 03:47 UTC

  Harvard consolidates as top US academic research institution

  

  Harvard University took sole possession of first place in U.S. News & World Report’s 2011 rankings of top United States academic research institutions. Princeton University, which tied with Harvard for the lead last year, fell to second place.

• Tuesday, August 17th 2010 - 23:58 UTC

  Colombian president, --temporarily--, rules out peace dialogue with guerrillas

  

  Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos ruled out, for the time being, any possible dialogue with the guerrilla organizations and said he would abstain from naming a peace commissioner. At the same time he called on the armed forces to increase their efforts in combating terrorism.