Politics

• Wednesday, September 16th 2009 - 08:15 UTC

  Lula da Silva tells BBC: “rich countries to blame for the financial crisis”

  

  Brazilian President Lula da Silva has heavily criticised the “rich countries”, the G8 and other international bodies over the global economic crisis.

• Wednesday, September 16th 2009 - 08:12 UTC

  UK opinion poll suggests most voters feel “anyone” is better than PM Brown

  

  A United Kingdom public opinion poll has suggested nearly half of voters believe any Labour figure could do a better job as leader than Prime Minister Gordon Brown. According to a Populus survey for The Times, 48% think that “literally anyone” from within the party would be an improvement.

• Wednesday, September 16th 2009 - 07:48 UTC

  Britain could be forced to bail out offshore tax havens

  

  Britain could be forced to bail out one or more of its offshore tax havens at huge cost, according to early drafts of a Treasury report, because the economic crisis has wrecked their finances, according to The Guardian from London.

• Wednesday, September 16th 2009 - 07:23 UTC

  US taxman corners evaders hiding in foreign holdings

  

  Rich Americans who have evaded taxes by hiding their foreign holdings have about a week to decide whether to turn in to an Internal Revenue Service amnesty program or gamble that they will not be caught.

• Wednesday, September 16th 2009 - 06:59 UTC

  Britain, Spain and the sleeping giant Latin America

  

  UK Foreign Office Minister, Chris Bryant, addressed the Latin American Forum at Casa de America in Madrid on 14 September.

• Tuesday, September 15th 2009 - 12:02 UTC

  Bolivia invites Spanish companies to invest “as partners not as bosses”

  

  Bolivian President Evo Morales said companies that respect the law and don’t “conspire” against the government are welcome in his country. Bolivia needs investors and partners rather than “bosses,” Morales told a conference of business leaders and politicians in Madrid.

• Tuesday, September 15th 2009 - 11:57 UTC

  US extends trade embargo on Cuba for another year

  

  Despite vowing a new beginning in the US-Cuba relations, President Barack Obama has decided to extend the 47-year-long US trade embargo on Cuba for another year.

• Tuesday, September 15th 2009 - 09:49 UTC

  Argentina accuses Uruguay of “irreversible damage” to the ecosystem

  

  Argentina told the International Court of Justice Monday that Uruguayan pollution of a border river was a grave infringement of Argentinean rights. Argentina and Uruguay have been wrangling for years over a giant pulp mill sited on the Uruguay River, which divides the two South American nations.

• Tuesday, September 15th 2009 - 08:31 UTC

  Mujica repentant for condemning Uruguay to endure military dictatorship

  

  Uruguay’s incumbent presidential candidate and former Tupamaros guerrilla leader Jose “Pepe” Mujica sent shockwaves both inside the ruling coalition and the opposition as a result of a long controversial Sunday interview with the Buenos Aires daily La Nación.

• Tuesday, September 15th 2009 - 03:59 UTC

  The fiscal cost of pulling Brazil out or recession was “very cheap”

  

  Brazilian Minister of Finance Guido Mantega said that the global crisis has a “very low cost” for the finances of Latinamerica’s largest economy which last week officially announced the end of recession.