Politics

• Tuesday, September 15th 2009 - 00:47 UTC

  Russia finances sale of tanks and missile to Chavez regime

  

  Russia has agreed to lend Venezuela over 2 billion US dollars to buy weapons, President Hugo Chavez has said. The credit will be used to purchase nearly 100 tanks and a series of anti-aircraft rocket systems from Russia.

• Monday, September 14th 2009 - 22:10 UTC

  Street crime, damages and hundreds arrested in Chile on coup anniversary

  

  This weekend’s “demonstrations” commemorating the 36th anniversary of the 9/11/73 military coup in Chile that toppled the Socialist government of President Salvador Allende left three dead, 19 policemen wounded, more than 200 arrested and millions of pesos in property damage.

• Monday, September 14th 2009 - 09:16 UTC

  Botnia dispute in The Hague: first round of hearings begins

  

  Argentina begins Monday a round of public hearings before the International Court of The Hague and will be arguing against Uruguay’s alleged unilateral decision to allow the construction of a pulp mill on a jointly managed river and which has been at the heart of a long standing litigation between the neighbouring countries.

• Monday, September 14th 2009 - 09:12 UTC

  Brazilian minister calls for the de-criminalization of marihuana

  

  Brazil’s Environment Minister Carlos Minc called on the country’s Supreme Court to imitate Argentina and de-criminalize possession of drugs by adults for personal consumption.

• Monday, September 14th 2009 - 09:02 UTC

  Beijing reacts to higher tyre’ tariffs with probes into US poultry and cars

  

  Beijing announced it would launch anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations into some United States imported vehicles and chicken products from the United States, the Ministry of Commerce said Monday, escalating a trade disputes which was triggered when the US decided to raise tariffs on Chinese-made tires.

• Monday, September 14th 2009 - 08:49 UTC

  Spain resumes Gibraltar-Algeciras maritime link 40 years later

  

  Maritime links between Gibraltar and Algeciras, Spain will be resumed next month after an interruption of 40 years, a spokesman for the Spanish shipping firm Transcoma confirmed to the Gibraltar Chronicle over the weekend.

• Sunday, September 13th 2009 - 17:57 UTC

  US denies Honduras' Micheletti visa

  

  The US has revoked the visa of Honduras' interim president to pressure the Central American country to reinstate Manuel Zelaya, the country's ousted leader, the interim government says.

• Saturday, September 12th 2009 - 12:02 UTC

  Unasur meeting in Quito to promote confidence-building measures

  

  Ecuador expects all Foreign Affairs and Defence ministers from Unasur countries to be present next Tuesday at the meeting in Quito which is basically targeted to create and stimulate confidence-building measures in the region.

• Saturday, September 12th 2009 - 11:57 UTC

  France cautions Venezuela on “nuclear links” with Iran

  

  France cautioned Venezuela that any nuclear technology transfer from Iran would represent a “violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions”.

• Saturday, September 12th 2009 - 11:55 UTC

  Russian mid range missiles (300 km) for Venezuela, and “they don’t fail”

  

  Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has announced that the country will soon take delivery of Russian missiles with a range of 300km. Returning from a 10-day tour of Africa, Asia and Europe, including Russia, Mr Chavez is also planning to buy Russian T-72 and T-90.