Politics

• Wednesday, September 2nd 2009 - 07:41 UTC

  Euro zone record in July: 15.1 million jobless

  

  Unemployment in the 16-member Euro zone hit a 10-year high in July, data released Tuesday showed. EU statistics office Eurostat said that another 167,000 people were unemployed in the Euro zone during July, pushing the jobless rate up to 9.5% from 9.4% in June which takes the total to 15.1 million people.

• Wednesday, September 2nd 2009 - 07:23 UTC

  Terrorist suspect to be confirmed as Iranian Defence minister

  

  Iranian MPs have strongly backed the defence minister-designate, in defiance of Argentine demands for his arrest over a 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires. Ahmad Vahidi faced no opposition from MPs on the third day of a debate on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's choices for his new cabinet.

• Wednesday, September 2nd 2009 - 07:13 UTC

  Commonwealth fully suspends Fiji for refusing to call elections

  

  The Commonwealth has fully suspended Fiji after it refused to bow to demands to call elections by next year. Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma cited the Pacific island country's lack of progress towards democracy.

• Tuesday, September 1st 2009 - 19:37 UTC

  British consul in Basra next Falkland Islands governor

  

  British Consul General in Basra Iraq and biodiversity conservation expert Nigel Haywood will be the next Governor of the Falkland Islands and Commissioner for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

• Tuesday, September 1st 2009 - 13:36 UTC

  Chavez takes time to reply to Peruvian President García ironies

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said that his country will continue exporting oil to the United States because it is in interest. In a statement published in the Lima daily El Comercio that “many people don’t know” that Venezuelan state oil giant PDVSA, through its Citgo subsidiary, has seven large refineries and more than 10.000 service stations on US soil.

• Tuesday, September 1st 2009 - 12:59 UTC

  Uruguay confirms submission to extend continental shelf to 350 miles

  

  Uruguay submitted a summary of the official request to extend the limits of its continental shelf from 200 to 350 miles, --in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea--, to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, CLCS, which is holding its 24th session in New York.

• Tuesday, September 1st 2009 - 12:42 UTC

  Surprise move: President Vazquez most trusted advisor Defence minister

  

  With only two months left for Uruguay’s October general election President Tabare Vazquez, as had been anticipated, reshuffled his cabinet which included a major surprise: his main advisor and most trusted man was moved from Foreign Affairs to the ministry of Defence.

• Tuesday, September 1st 2009 - 07:51 UTC

  A black woman poised for presidential candidate in Brazil

  

  “During the US Democrat party primaries, when Hillary Clinton was running against Barack Obama, a friend of mine said the US would have to choose between a woman and a black person, but if I was to be presidential candidate in Brazil, we wouldn’t have that problem, because I’m a woman and black”.

• Tuesday, September 1st 2009 - 06:58 UTC

  Lula da Silva unveils sub-salt oil policy and heralds “new Independence Day”

  

  Brazil has unveiled plans to bring more state control to its oil industry and take advantage of offshore reserves. President Lula da Silva proposed Monday switching to a system which would see the government own a part of all oil produced by changing concessions for production-sharing agreements.

• Tuesday, September 1st 2009 - 05:47 UTC

  WTO confirms ruling favouring Brazil in cotton dispute with US

  

  United States faces annual trade sanctions of about 295 million US dollars for failing to scrap illegal subsidies paid to its cotton growers. However the punishment, imposed by the World Trade Organization (WTO), is far less than the 4 billion USD that Brazil, which brought the case, had wanted.