Politics

• Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 21:18 UTC

  Half of Venezuelan population has “little or no confidence” in President Chavez

  

  Venezuelan voters' confidence in President Hugo Chávez is beginning to wane as a result of the electricity crisis, water rationing, economic measures, decisions limiting private property and attempts at leading the country into a Socialist system.

• Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 21:12 UTC

  What can Argentina gain from another Falklands dispute?

  

  The Washington Post published this week an editorial on the current Falkland Islands situation arguing that “you know that an Argentine leader must be in political trouble” if the subject of the South Atlantic Islands comes up again.

• Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 04:46 UTC

  Insulza bids for a second OAS term; US and Venezuela are not convinced

  

  The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, on Wednesday presented his candidacy for re-election in a speech before the Permanent Council in which he offered to continue to be a “partner” in the use of a “modern multilateralism to apply our common agenda, as ambitious as it may be, for the benefit of the people of the Americas.”

• Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 04:21 UTC

  Brazil tells Washington “not to push Iran into a corner”

  

  Brazil and the US could not agree Wednesday over how to rein in Tehran's suspect nuclear ambitions and Brazilian President Lula da Silva warned the world not to “push Iran into a corner.”

• Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 04:19 UTC

  Europe welcomes Greek austerity plan, but Athens demands “solidarity”

  

  Europe has welcomed a 6.6 billion US dollars Greek austerity plan of pension freezes and tax hikes as the country mounts a frantic bid to cut its budget deficit. Hundreds of pensioners hit the streets after Prime Minister George Papandreou revealed the hit to public and private sector retirement plans.

• Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 04:10 UTC

  Spain: no end in sight for the ranks of unemployed

  

  The ranks of Spain’s unemployed increased by 2.03% in February compared with January, bringing the jobless total to more than 4.13 million, the Labour and Immigration Ministry said Tuesday. The figure is the highest since 1996.

• Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 03:35 UTC

  Argentine opposition has majority control of both Congress houses

  

  Argentina’s opposition senators on Wednesday won majority control of all the chamber’s committees, undermining President Cristina Fernandez’s de Kirchner’s ability to pass legislation more than two years after she took office.

• Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 03:34 UTC

  Spanish opposition reacts to Ban Ki-moon’s approach to decolonization process

  

  Spanish opposition Popular Party MP José Ignacio Landaluce said this week that the only option for the decolonisation of Gibraltar was its return to Spain. He was reacting to comments made by the United Nations’ Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, who has called for a “pragmatic and realistic” approach to the decolonisation process.

• Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 01:17 UTC

  Two men make history as first gay marriage in the city of Buenos Aires

  

  After a long judicial battle two men married on Wednesday in Buenos Aires City in what was Argentina's second gay marriage, a rights group confirmed.

• Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 00:31 UTC

  Chilean navy accepts responsibility for untimely warning on tsunami

  

  “The epicentre is on land, therefore there should be no tsunami”. That was the information that the Chilean Navy -through its hydro-graphic and oceanographic office “Shoa”- delivered to President Michelle Bachelet in a communication at 05:20 am on Saturday.