Politics

• Thursday, July 1st 2010 - 06:57 UTC

  Brazilian opposition picks young, fresh face as Vice-president candidate

  

  Congressman Indio da Costa of the opposition Democrats party was named Brazilian presidential candidate Jose Serra’a running mate. The move is geared to retake the initiative in the campaign to October 3 presidential polls which now have incumbent Dilma Rousseff ahead.

• Thursday, July 1st 2010 - 06:46 UTC

  Syria’s Assad in Brazil proposed close economic links with Mercosur

  

  Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on his first-ever tour of Latin America proposed a free trade agreement with Mercosur after meeting Wednesday in Brasilia with his Brazilian counterpart Lula da Silva and giving a conference at the Foreign Ministry seat in Itamaraty Palace.

• Wednesday, June 30th 2010 - 21:04 UTC

  Syria's Latin American connection

  Damascus will continue to maintain ties with the countries south of the US, regardless of Washington's objections

• Wednesday, June 30th 2010 - 20:55 UTC

  Cuban president sacks another (inefficient) minister: Light Industry

  

  Cuban president Raul Castro sacked Light Industry minister Jose Hermandez, the latest of an on-going cabinet reshuffle with the purpose of implanting a policy of import-substitution to address the growing economic crisis.

• Wednesday, June 30th 2010 - 20:04 UTC

  Brazilian candidate Ms. Rousseff promises to have Lula da Silva as advisor

  

  Brazilian presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff promised, if elected, that President Lula da Silva (and mentor) will be her advisor to help with all the reforms the country still needs to address.

• Wednesday, June 30th 2010 - 06:32 UTC

  EU/Mercosur talks must go “beyond tariffs and subsidies”

  

  The association agreement between the European Union and Mercosur has to go “beyond tariffs and subsidies”, said Brazilian president addressing businessmen from Brazil and a visiting Italian delegation headed by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

• Wednesday, June 30th 2010 - 06:24 UTC

  Uruguay to reply Argentina’s joint monitoring proposal next week

  

  Uruguay will reply next week Argentina’s proposal for the joint monitoring of the River Uruguay, said Uruguayan Foreign Affairs minister Luis Almagro after holding a three hours meeting with his visiting counterpart Hector Timerman.

• Wednesday, June 30th 2010 - 06:09 UTC

  Argentina: Héctor Timerman defiantly calls himself a Peronist and a “Kirchnerist”

  

  Timerman’s portfolio to be strengthened by his special ties to Kirchners. Timerman brings rare gifts of strength of character and intellectual preeminence to his new job.

• Wednesday, June 30th 2010 - 06:03 UTC

  Berlusconi says Lula da Silva should run again for president in 2014

  

  Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, expressed his support for the idea that Brazilian President Lula da Silva should run for president once again in the Brazilian presidential elections of 2014.

• Wednesday, June 30th 2010 - 05:57 UTC

  Six decades since splitting China and Taiwan sign milestone trade pact

  

  China and Taiwan have signed a historic trade pact, seen as the most significant agreement since civil war split the two governments 60 years ago. The Economic Co-operation Framework Agreement (ECFA) removes tariffs on hundreds of products. It could boost bilateral trade that already totals 110 billion US dollars a year.