Politics

• Monday, October 26th 2009 - 10:14 UTC

  Ecuador overrides 2.000 pharmaceutical patents considered “indispensable”

  

  Ecuador made public on Sunday a presidential decree overriding over 2.000 pharmaceutical patents in order to provide more affordable medicines to the people of Ecuador.

• Monday, October 26th 2009 - 10:12 UTC

  Ten Colombian amateur soccer players killed in Venezuela

  

  Venezuela said on Sunday at least 10 members of an amateur Colombian soccer team had been found dead after being kidnapped on its side of the border. Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizalez told reporters the men were found with bullet wounds in various parts of the western state of Tachira, on the border between the two neighbouring countries.

• Saturday, October 24th 2009 - 18:09 UTC

  Chilean independent hopeful wrecks bipartisan presidential race

  

  Two of Chile’s leading polls show independent presidential candidate Marco Enríquez-Ominami closing in on his rival Senator Eduardo Frei, and faring better in a run-off vote against conservative candidate Sebastián Piñera. However, the polls have widely differing predictions of each candidate’s performance in the first round.

• Saturday, October 24th 2009 - 16:56 UTC

  UK suffering the longest recession since records began

  

  The UK is now in the grip of the longest recession since records began, according to gloomy official figures. Hopes for an end to the recession were scuppered as the economy shrank by a shock 0.4% between July and September - a record sixth quarter in a row of decline.

• Saturday, October 24th 2009 - 16:32 UTC

  Spain’s unemployment remains unchanged at record high

  

  Spain’s unemployment rate stood at 17.93% in the third quarter, or virtually unchanged from the previous three-month period, the National Statistics Institute, or INE, said.

• Saturday, October 24th 2009 - 10:07 UTC

  Uruguay votes for President and a new parliament on Sunday

  

  An estimated 2.6 million out of a population of 3.2 million Uruguayans are registered to vote on Sunday’s election that will decide on the successor of President Tabare Vazquez and a new parliament. Voting in Uruguay is compulsory.

• Saturday, October 24th 2009 - 07:19 UTC

  Paraguayan congress approves Itaipú treaty with Brazil

  

  The Paraguayan Senate approved by an ample majority the agreement with Brazil which represents a higher financial compensation for Paraguay from Itaipú, the world’s largest operational hydroelectric dam, a long standing claim which was addressed in several summits between presidents Lula da Silva and Fernando Lugo.

• Saturday, October 24th 2009 - 05:38 UTC

  Latam countries have to adapt to a more sluggish global economy, says IMF

  

  Latin American and Caribbean countries are recovering from the global crisis, but at different rates, and growth is expected to return to the region as a whole in 2010, the IMF said in its Regional Economic Outlook released Friday in Sao Paulo.

• Saturday, October 24th 2009 - 03:48 UTC

  Typhoons were flown non-stop to the Falklands with support from ten aircraft

  

  Senior officers from the Royal Air Force have paid tribute to squadrons across Britain following the successful deployment of four Euro-fighter Typhoons to the Falkland Islands.

• Friday, October 23rd 2009 - 21:07 UTC

  Falkland Islands: Weekly Penguin News Update

  

  Headlines: Doing it for themselves; No threat’ to airbridge as AIG economy nosedives, MoD tax dispute at the heart of Ascension row.