Politics

• Tuesday, June 22nd 2010 - 04:46 UTC

  Vatican confirms relations with Cuba are “cordial and on a healthy course”

  

  Vatican Foreign minister Archbishop Dominique Mamberti concluded an official and pastoral visit to Cuba Sunday saying relations between the Catholic Church and the Cuban governments are on a healthy course, reports the Catholic News Service.

• Monday, June 21st 2010 - 05:46 UTC

  The downfall of the ‘loyal, orthodox’ Jorge Taiana

  

  Suspicious deals with Venezuela, a ministry with different areas of influence, alleged leaks to the press, a close alignment with Washington and in spite of his submission, probably too ‘autonomous’ for the Kirchner couple’s taste seems to have condemned the orthodox Jorge Taiana as Argentina’s Foreign Affairs minister.

• Monday, June 21st 2010 - 04:10 UTC

  Falklands’ and decolonization debate, Timerman’s international debut

  

  Argentina’s newly designated Minister of Foreign Affairs Hector Timerman will be making his international debut with the Falkland Islands debate, next Thursday/Friday at the United Nations Decolonization Committee, C24.

• Monday, June 21st 2010 - 04:07 UTC

  Santos calls for unity and promises to improve relations with neighbors

  

  As anticipated Colombia’s Juan Manuel Santos won on Sunday the country’s presidential runoff by a landslide, persuading voters with a pledge to continue Alvaro Uribe’s policies, the most popular leader of the country in the last five decades.

• Saturday, June 19th 2010 - 02:09 UTC

  UN calls on Venezuela to withdraw arrest warrant against head of media network

  

  United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of expression called on Venezuela to withdraw the arrest warrant against the head of the opposition Globovision television network, declaring that it had no right to silence critics.

• Saturday, June 19th 2010 - 00:24 UTC

  Taiana resigns after “strong exchange” with Mrs. Kirchner; Timmerman replaces him

  

  Argentine Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Taiana and a close ally of the ruling Kirchner couple since 2003, unexpectedly resigned Friday allegedly because of “lack of support and differences” in the implementation of the country foreign policy.

• Friday, June 18th 2010 - 20:39 UTC

  Argentina does not rule out Brazil in the River Uruguay joint monitoring

  

  Argentina’s Deputy Foreign Minister Victorio Taccetti did not rule out the possibility of Brazil integrating the joint environmental monitoring of the River Uruguay currently being arranged by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and her Uruguayan counterpart José Mujica.

• Friday, June 18th 2010 - 20:32 UTC

  HMS Manchester wren jailed for smuggling cocaine into the UK

  

  A Royal Navy wren has been jailed for smuggling cocaine into the UK on board a warship which had been on counter-narcotics training and in the first half of 2009 was involved in South Atlantic-Falkland Islands’ deployment, BBC reports.

• Friday, June 18th 2010 - 20:29 UTC

  IMF chief Strauss-Khan strongly supports Spain’s reforms

  

  IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn praised Spain’s management of the current economic situation and said the budget deficit will shrink “rapidly” as the government’s overhaul of labor rules boosts economic growth.

• Friday, June 18th 2010 - 19:25 UTC

  Venezuela’s Mercosur incorporation closer on political agreement in Paraguay

  

  “There are better conditions, things are quieter now” to consider the incorporation of Venezuela to Mercosur as full member said Paraguayan cabinet chief Miguel Lopez Perito, following a political agreement in Congress with one of the main opposition parties.