Politics

• Wednesday, July 28th 2010 - 17:48 UTC

  Brazilian military exercise to protect nuclear plants and vast offshore oil deposits

  

  Brazil is holding military exercises along its Atlantic coast with the deployment of 10.000 troops from the three services to ensure the country can protect its nuclear plants and massive offshore oil industry.

• Wednesday, July 28th 2010 - 06:59 UTC

  Venezuela: only a “political negotiation” can end 60 years of violence in Colombia

  

  Venezuela’ Foreign Affairs minister Nicolás Maduro revealed to Paraguayan officials that his country would be proposing in the coming Unasur meeting a “political negotiation” to end decades of political violence in Colombia.

• Wednesday, July 28th 2010 - 06:55 UTC

  Mujica/Mrs. Kirchner summit: River Uruguay waters are choppier than expected

  

  Uruguayan president Jose Mujica will be meeting with his peer Cristina Kirchner Wednesday in Buenos Aires in what seems an attempt to unbind differences relative to the joint monitoring of the river Uruguay, particularly the Finnish pulp mill UPM/Botnia which is at the heart of the ongoing dispute between the neighbouring countries.

• Wednesday, July 28th 2010 - 02:51 UTC

  Uribe rejects any “peace dialogue” with guerrillas; ‘no repeat of that mistake’

  

  Outgoing Colombian president Alvaro Uribe criticized Tuesday the possibilities of a peace proposal with the Colombian guerrilla groups FARC and ELN and emphasized that Colombia will not fall into the trap of “internationalizing dialogue”.

• Tuesday, July 27th 2010 - 20:48 UTC

  EU population reaches 500 million, with strong boost from net migration

  

  The population in the European Union (EU) rose to over 500 million this year, official figures released by the EU statistics office Eurostat on Tuesday showed.

• Tuesday, July 27th 2010 - 20:20 UTC

  Ecuador moves to increase state control over the oil industry

  

  OPEC member Ecuador says it will start renegotiating contracts with private oil companies as it moves to increase state control over the sector. Under the new hydrocarbons law, the current production-sharing agreements will be replaced by a flat fee.

• Tuesday, July 27th 2010 - 20:04 UTC

  Paraguay downplays derogatory references from Brazilian politicians

  

  Paraguayan officials downplayed statements by Brazil’s main opposition presidential candidate Jose Serra who said that Brazil is doing “philanthropy with Paraguay and Bolivia”.

• Tuesday, July 27th 2010 - 04:53 UTC

  Colombia/Venezuela conflict: Kirchner meets president-elect Santos

  

  Unasur (Union of South American Nations) chairman Nestor Kirchner confirmed Monday ongoing contacts at different levels to try and defuse the Colombia/Venezuela conflict.

• Tuesday, July 27th 2010 - 04:49 UTC

  Chile, Peru and Colombia, trade platform for China in South America

  

  Colombia, Chile and Peru are increasingly the platform for South American trade with China, according to official statistics. The three countries have China as one of the largest and most dynamic trade partners and are working on a common strategy for further liberalization of trade.

• Tuesday, July 27th 2010 - 02:37 UTC

  Soy-oil: Argentina hopeful India will replace China as main client

  

  India could become the main buyer of Argentine soybean oil according to Industry Minister Deborah Giorgi. The official made the announcement following a meeting on Monday with Indian in Buenos Aires Rengaraj Viswanathan.