Politics

• Sunday, March 28th 2010 - 21:46 UTC

  First gay marriage in Westminster: groom was Foreign Office minister Chris Bryant

  

  The Palace of Westminster, which houses the British Parliament, was on Saturday the venue of an unprecedented event: its first gay wedding.

• Saturday, March 27th 2010 - 06:42 UTC

  Lula da Silva again fined for breach of electoral legislation

  

  Brazil’s Superior Electoral tribunal, TSE, again fined President Lula da Silva for having campaigned in support of cabinet chief and the Workers’ Party candidate for October’s presidential election, Dilma Rousseff.

• Saturday, March 27th 2010 - 06:16 UTC

  Catholic Church is not above the law

  The Biblical formula “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's” is generally taken to mean that people should recognize the authority of the state in secular matters, but that is not necessarily what Jesus meant by it. It is certainly not the current practice of the Roman Catholic Church, although the rule in modern democracies is very clear: The law applies equally to everyone, even priests.

• Saturday, March 27th 2010 - 06:04 UTC

  Web 2.0 versus Control 2.0

  

  The fight for free access to information is being played out to an ever greater extent on the Internet. The emerging general trend is that a growing number of countries are attempting to tighten their control of the Net, but at the same time, increasingly inventive netizens demonstrate mutual solidarity by mobilizing when necessary.

• Saturday, March 27th 2010 - 03:25 UTC

  Spanish minister defends Gibraltar friendly-approach policy before Congress

  

  Spain is defending its interests in relation to Gibraltar “firmly and efficiently” Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos declared in a special session of Congress in Madrid. But he also underlined Spain’s commitment for police and judicial co-operation to stamp out crime in the area.

• Saturday, March 27th 2010 - 02:51 UTC

  Lula da Silva celebrates 130 anniversary of Arab immigration to Brazil

  

  Just a week after his latest trip to the Middle East, Brazilian president Lula da Silva was honoured March 25th by the Arab community at the Mount Lebanon Club, in the city of São Paulo. The event, which marks the 130th anniversary of Arab immigration in Brazil, was organized by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.

• Friday, March 26th 2010 - 22:01 UTC

  Argentine top union leader back-peddles in inflation controversy

  

  “Inflation in a growing country is good” said Hugo Moyano Argentina’s leader of the powerful labour unions confederation, CGT, a day after having openly complained that “inflation in Argentina is a fact, and nobody can deny it’s a reality”.

• Friday, March 26th 2010 - 21:40 UTC

  Falklands deployed HMS York celebrates 25 years at sea

  

  HMS York, the Portsmouth-based Type 42 destroyer and currently patrolling the Falkland Islands as part of her South Atlantic deployment is celebrating her 25 years at sea. She was accepted into service on March 1985.

• Friday, March 26th 2010 - 21:37 UTC

  Chavez adds 3 days to Easter holiday (completing a week) to save energy

  

  President Hugo Chavez has added three days to Venezuela's Easter holiday to deal with a growing energy crisis. The move which will close government and public offices means most Venezuelans will have a seven-day break starting on 1 April.

• Friday, March 26th 2010 - 04:27 UTC

  Brazil ready to raise rates next April following strong rebound

  

  Brazil's central bank policy-makers said on Thursday they are ready to raise rates next month to curb inflation pressure as jobs data highlighted the strength of the country's economic rebound.