Politics

• Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 08:11 UTC

  Clash for Argentina’s Central bank reserves turns into political turmoil

  

  Martin Redrado was “restored” Friday to his post as President of the Argentine Central Bank following an injunction from Federal Judge María José Sarmiento. Redrado had been removed Thursday by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner through an emergency decree for having resisted releasing 6.6 billion US dollars from the bank’s reserves

• Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 08:08 UTC

  Surprise rise in US unemployment during December

  

  US employers unexpectedly cut 85,000 jobs in December, but the unemployment rate held steady at 10%, official figures have shown. The number of job losses was surprising, particularly after November's figures had been revised.

• Friday, January 8th 2010 - 13:03 UTC

  PM Brown reaffirms Falklands’ sovereignty and support for oil development

  

  Prime Minister Gordon Brown in his New Year message reaffirmed UK sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and “the principle of self determination that underlies it”, emphasizing there will be “no negotiations (with Argentina) on the Islands sovereignty unless and until such a time as the Islanders wish”.

• Friday, January 8th 2010 - 08:11 UTC

  Mrs. Kirchner gets her way and will pay debts with Central bank reserves

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her cabinet signed Thursday a disputed decree removing Central Bank President Martin Redrado from office amid a fight over the use of bank reserves to pay debt due this year.

• Friday, January 8th 2010 - 06:44 UTC

  New Japan Finance minister wants weaker Yen to help recover economy

  

  Japan's newly appointed finance minister Naoto Kan has called for a weaker yen in order to aid the recovery of the Japanese economy. Speaking the day after his appointment, Mr Kan said it would be “nice” to see the currency weaken.

• Friday, January 8th 2010 - 06:22 UTC

  Waters dispute with Spain, Gibraltar’s main challenge in 2009

  

  Gibraltar Chief Minister Peter Caruana said this week that the biggest challenge of all in 2009 was that over the sovereignty of Gibraltar’s waters represented by Spain’s designation of areas of these as an EU environmental protection zone, and the EU Commission inclusion of it in the official EU list.

• Friday, January 8th 2010 - 06:12 UTC

  President Lula da Silva “will decide” on contract for huge fighter jet order

  

  Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said Thursday that the government -- not the Air Force -- will determine which contractor to pick for a 4.4 billion US dollars fighter jet order, and that President Lula da Silva has not yet made his decision.

• Thursday, January 7th 2010 - 17:32 UTC

  Spain optimistic about an EU/Mercosur trade agreement this year

  

  Spain’s Foreign Affairs minister Miguel Angel Moratinos is confident that the European Union will reach a trade understanding or road map with Mercosur during the first half of this year, since Spain holds the EU rotating presidency.

• Thursday, January 7th 2010 - 17:27 UTC

  Former Argentine ambassador in Montevideo praises Uruguay’s “three Joes”

  

  The Argentine government accepted on Wednesday the resignation of its ambassador in Uruguay, Hernan Patiño Meyer who has been involved in a political controversy following comments praising Uruguayan president-elect Jose Mujica.

• Thursday, January 7th 2010 - 17:17 UTC

  Political standoff in Argentina over sacking of Central Bank president

  

  A political standoff over the head of Argentina's central bank materialized Wednesday after the bank's president declined to support a plan to use 6.5 billion US dollars in reserves to pay debt.