Politics

• Wednesday, March 2nd 2011 - 06:17 UTC

  US Congress works on bill to postpone government shut-down for two weeks

  

  The US House of Representatives has approved a measure to fund the US government for a further two weeks, avoiding a looming shut-down. The bill from the Republican-led chamber would cut government spending by 4 billion USD in that period.

• Wednesday, March 2nd 2011 - 06:05 UTC

  Illegal betting in sports generates turnover of 140 billion US dollars

  

  Illegal betting in sport generates a turnover of around 140 billion US dollars a year worldwide, according to IOC president Jacques Rogge. Speaking after a meeting in Lausanne with government ministers, Interpol and European bodies on illegal and irregular betting practices, Rogge said action had to be taken to counter the threat.

• Wednesday, March 2nd 2011 - 05:58 UTC

  African dictator son planning to buy 380 million USD yacht, claims Global Witness

  

  The London-based anti-corruption campaign group, Global Witness, said it has evidence that Teodorin Obiang, the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry of the tiny West African state of Equatorial Guinea, has plans to order a luxury yacht worth hundreds of millions of dollars from a shipyard in northern Germany.

• Wednesday, March 2nd 2011 - 01:38 UTC

  Falklands present at Westminster seminar on Parliamentary practice

  

  Member of the Legislative Assembly Emma Edwards will be representing the Falkland Islands at the 60th Westminster Seminar on Parliamentary Practice and Procedure (March 6/12) hosted by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK Branch.

• Wednesday, March 2nd 2011 - 00:41 UTC

  CFK underlines Argentine economic and political progress, but no word on re-election

  

  Addressing Congress on Tuesday Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, CFK, underlined the economic and political development brought on by her administration saying that they helped all Argentine citizens to lead a better quality of life.

• Tuesday, March 1st 2011 - 23:52 UTC

  Pro-Kirchner academics want Nobel Prize Vargas Llosa out of Argentina

  

  Intellectuals close to Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner launched a campaign Tuesday to stop Nobel Prize Mario Vargas Llosa from opening the Spanish-speaking world's largest cultural fair because of his disparaging remarks about Argentine politics.

• Tuesday, March 1st 2011 - 16:32 UTC

  ‘Mercosur is a good idea, badly implemented’ and not much of a ‘market’

  

  Mercosur (Common market of the South) is a good idea, badly implemented, and it does not have much of “common” and much less of a “market” argues Professor Andres Malamud, researcher at the Lisbon University Social Sciences currently on a lecture tour in Paraguay.

• Tuesday, March 1st 2011 - 06:55 UTC

  “Brazil has no money to buy jet fighters” in 2011 confirms top official

  

  The Brazilian government has “no money to buy jet fighters” in 2011 confirmed Finance minister Guido Mantega in reference to the tender for the purchase of at least 36 modern aircraft and for which France, United States and Sweden are competing.

• Tuesday, March 1st 2011 - 06:31 UTC

  EU fears massive exodus of refugees if there’s a ‘Battle for Tripoli’

  

  Europe is extremely concerned about the consequences of the instability in Libya which could mean a humanitarian crisis of proportions if Libyans take to the sea and try to reach the European continent in look of food, hope and jobs, warned the EU Commissioner for Food Aid Kristalina Georgieva.

• Tuesday, March 1st 2011 - 06:25 UTC

  Most Libyan oilfields no longer under control of Gadaffi

  

  Most of Libya's oilfields are no longer under control of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the European Union's energy commissioner said on Monday.