Politics

• Wednesday, January 27th 2010 - 14:40 UTC

  US 2010 budget deficit estimated at 9.2% of GDP, second highest

  

  The United States Congressional Budget Office, CBO released Tuesday its 10 year budget projections which includes a deficit for this fiscal year of 1.3 trillion US dollars, equivalent to 9.2% of GDP.

• Wednesday, January 27th 2010 - 14:34 UTC

  Beijing drastic decision to cap excessive lending shakes world markets

  

  Asian markets suffered their biggest one-day losses in three months, as fears over planned limits on lending by banks in China unnerved investors already jumpy at proposed curbs on United States banks.

• Wednesday, January 27th 2010 - 14:32 UTC

  Brazilian ruling coalition fears division among left wing voters

  

  Brazil’ ruling Workers Party presidential hopeful Dilma Rousseff admitted that there was concern over the impact of a divided left ahead for the coming October presidential election, as happened in Chile where the conservative Coalition for Change defeated the ruling Concertacion in office for two decades.

• Wednesday, January 27th 2010 - 11:21 UTC

  Patagonian ports open to Chinese jiggers if they have no links with Falklands

  

  Argentine Fisheries Under-secretary Norberto Yauhar is sponsoring a fishing cooperation agreement with Beijing that will allow Chinese flagged vessels to enter Argentine ports for provisions, repairs, unloading catches and landing transfers. The only condition is that the Chinese vessels must not have commercial ties with the Falkland Islands government.

• Tuesday, January 26th 2010 - 16:16 UTC

  Argentina rejects UK protest and territorial pretensions over the Falklands

  

  Argentina officially rejected Monday the United Kingdom’s protest against a bill which includes as Argentine territory the Falklands/Malvinas islands and other insular territories in the South Atlantic, according to a release in Buenos Aires from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

• Tuesday, January 26th 2010 - 13:32 UTC

  Indian commander celebrates 60th Republic Day in the Falklands

  

  Commander Dilip Donde, the first Indian attempting a solo circumnavigation voyage of the earth, will celebrate on Tuesday India’s 60th Republic Day by unfurling the national flag on his yacht, INSV Mhadei, docked at Port Stanley in the Falklands Islands, nearly 13,000 km from his homeland, according to reports in the Mumbai press

• Tuesday, January 26th 2010 - 13:26 UTC

  Over five million Brazilians learning Spanish: the goal 41 million

  

  Over five million Brazilians are learning Spanish, according to the latest edition from Spain’s Cervantes Institute, “2009 Memory: Spanish language in the world”. This compares favourably with the one million registered in 2006, and covers the different levels of education in Brazil from primary school to university.

• Tuesday, January 26th 2010 - 08:53 UTC

  Mujica expects a solution to pulp mill conflict with Argentina by next March

  

  Uruguay’s president-elect Jose Mujica said that the long standing conflict over the Botnia pulp mill, which has soured relations with neighbouring Argentina, will inevitably be solved but he will only be meeting with Argentine authorities and not with the pickets who are blocking bridges leading to Uruguay.

• Tuesday, January 26th 2010 - 08:50 UTC

  Haiti’s aid and reconstruction plan main challenge: a legacy of failures

  

  Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaking at the International Conference on Haiti taking place in Montreal conceded Monday that countries are in for a decade of “hard work” to rebuild earthquake-shattered Haiti.

• Tuesday, January 26th 2010 - 08:46 UTC

  Redrado barred from Argentine Central Bank, the dispute moves to Congress

  

  Police stopped the head of Argentina's central bank from entering the bank on Sunday evening, hours after he vowed to stay in his job despite a court ruling that the government said meant he had to step down.