Politics

• Tuesday, June 2nd 2009 - 12:42 UTC

  Nestor Kirchner leads in polls for mid term election, but could not be enough

  

  Former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner who is running for a seat in the Lower House in this month’s mid term elections is ahead in all public opinion polls, although closely followed by the main opposition candidate Francisco de Narvaez.

• Tuesday, June 2nd 2009 - 12:37 UTC

  Argentine industrial union wants to block Venezuela from Mercosur

  

  The powerful Argentine Industrial Union, UIA, has called on its Mercosur peers to impede Venezuela’s incorporation to Mercosur in reprisal for the nationalization spree launched by President Hugo Chavez.

• Tuesday, June 2nd 2009 - 12:35 UTC

  Brazilian public opinion split on Lula da Silva’s re-re-election

  

  Brazilian public opinion is split almost equally on the re-election of President Lula da Silva for a second period, according to the latest poll published in Sao Paulo. Lula da Silva one of Brazil’s most popular leaders in decades has a support of 69% but a constitutional reform is needed if he is to run again in 2010.

• Tuesday, June 2nd 2009 - 10:51 UTC

  OAS Cuba’s sanctions could be lifted Tuesday in Honduras

  

  The Organization of American States, OAS, secretary general Jose Miguel Insulza said he was optimistic that an agreement to lift the suspension on Cuba can be reached at the 39th general assembly which officially begins Tuesday in Honduras.

• Tuesday, June 2nd 2009 - 10:40 UTC

  Cisco and Travelers to replace Citi and GM in Dow Jones average

  

  Shock waves of the financial crisis and its impact on the real economy have reached the United States Dow Jones Industrial Average which announced Monday the replacing of two iconic shares from its thirty blue chips index, announced Dow Jones & Company.

• Tuesday, June 2nd 2009 - 10:24 UTC

  New Salvador president praises Obama and re-establishes relations with Cuba

  

  A left-wing former television journalist, Mauricio Funes, was sworn-in Monday as president of El Salvador. President Funes heads the FMLN, the former Marxist rebels who fought a 12-year civil war against US-backed governments until 1992.

• Tuesday, June 2nd 2009 - 04:39 UTC

  China and U.S. seal economic and financial “partnership”

  

  In his first official visit to China since becoming Treasury Secretary, Mr Geithner told politicians and academics in Beijing that he still supports a strong US dollar, and insisted that the trillions of dollars of Chinese investments would not be unduly damaged by the economic crisis.

• Tuesday, June 2nd 2009 - 04:33 UTC

  Labour with 18% support trail Tories by 22 points, says poll

  

  Support for the Britain’s ruling Labour party has plunged by 10 points in the past month and the party now trails the Tories by 22% and is running neck and neck with the Liberal Democrats, according to a new poll.

• Monday, June 1st 2009 - 13:38 UTC

  Mercosur remains strategic for Uruguay and must be “strengthened”

  

  Uruguay will emphasize the need to “strengthen” Mercosur given the global context and the current weakness of the group’s cohesion said the country’s head of the Economic, Integration and Mercosur affairs office at the foreign relations ministry. However the current political environment does not seem to be the most appropriate.

• Monday, June 1st 2009 - 13:22 UTC

  Ecuador’s Correa forecasts the end of OAS and promotes the Group of Rio

  

  Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa said the Organization of American States, OAS, has “no longer a reason to exist” and forecasted it will be replaced by the Group of Rio, arguing it was time that Latinamerican issues ceased to be discussed in Washington.