Politics

• Tuesday, April 28th 2009 - 10:54 UTC

  US confirms follow up on thaw talks with Cuba

  

  United States diplomats are holding talks with officials of Cuba's diplomatic mission in Washington on possible follow-up measures to steps President Barack Obama took earlier this month to ease restrictions on the island nation.

• Tuesday, April 28th 2009 - 10:39 UTC

  Venezuela’s access to Mercosur should be cleared by May 26

  

  Venezuela agreed to comply with Mercosur intra-trade conditions so that its stalled incorporation request can be finally approved by the Brazilian Congress. Hopefully the issue will be finalized for when President Hugo Chavez makes a state visit to Brazil next May 26, according to Brazilian Foreign Secretary Celso Amorim quoted by the Sao Paulo press.

• Tuesday, April 28th 2009 - 10:26 UTC

  Bolivia and Paraguay seal peace and limits 74 years after the Chaco war

  

  Bolivia and Paraguay formally sealed Monday in Buenos Aires the end of an armed conflict dating back 74 years and which is considered the bloodiest of the last century in South America with over 100.000 killed.

• Tuesday, April 28th 2009 - 08:37 UTC

  Leading Paraguayan bishop suggests President Lugo should marry

  

  A leading authority of the Catholic Church has suggested that Paraguayan President and former bishop, Fernando Lugo should marry one of the women who claim to have had children with him so as to mitigate the scandal triggered in the country with the repeated allegations.

• Monday, April 27th 2009 - 14:14 UTC

  “Major rebalancing” of British forces to counter irregular warfare

  

  United Kingdom Special Forces like the SAS are to be boosted as part of a new military strategy to take on al-Qaeda and other terror networks that threaten Britain's security, Defence Secretary John Hutton is expected to announce. They are included in plans for a “major rebalancing” of the armed forces over the next 10 years.

• Monday, April 27th 2009 - 13:47 UTC

  Brazilian private sector divided over Venezuela and Mercosur

  

  The congressional controversy in Brazil over the incorporation of Venezuela has moved to the business sector. A group of Brazilian businessmen have begun lobbying strongly for Venezuela’s full membership but the process has been stalled by Brazilian and Paraguayan law makers.

• Monday, April 27th 2009 - 12:01 UTC

  Ecuador’s Correa re-elected; US dollar to remain as currency

  

  President Rafael Correa of Ecuador claimed re-election victory Sunday minutes after the polls closed on Sunday, calling his apparent win “a day of joy” in which “we have made history”. He was quoted saying he would keep the US dollar as the country’s currency.

• Saturday, April 25th 2009 - 11:00 UTC

  Voting before the going gets tough. The president of Argentina brings forward mid-term elections

  

  A piece from The Economist Intelligence Unite Views Wire on Argentina’s coming mid term elections sets out the scenario of the day after, and its consequences for the ruling Kirchner couple and obviously Argentine stability.
  An issue too sensitive to be openly addressed in Argentina, the article basically states the election has turned into a referendum on the still powerful Kirchners.
  “A heavy defeat for the candidates and allies of the governing Frente para la Victoria (FV, a faction of the Peronist party) could well hasten the end of their power, increasing the risk that the president will not see out her term (due to expire in January 2012) and presaging a bumpy political transition”.

• Saturday, April 25th 2009 - 07:40 UTC

  Black population becomes the majority in Brazil

  

  Brazil and its almost 200 million population is no longer a country of white majority. The credit now belongs to the 49.6% black or mulatto population compared to the 49.4% defined as white and this is set to increase in coming years with that percentage increasing to 54, according to a recent report from the Rio do Janeiro Federal University.

• Saturday, April 25th 2009 - 07:12 UTC

  Campaigners call new UK migration rules for Ghurka soldiers a “betrayal”

  

  Campaigners for Gurkha soldiers who want to settle in Britain have branded new rules on who could stay a “betrayal”. Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said the changes would allow around 4.300 more former Gurkhas to settle in the country out of the 36,000 who served in the British Army before July 1997.