Politics

• Wednesday, June 17th 2009 - 05:15 UTC

  Westminster expenses: ban on MPs employment of close relatives

  

  Hundreds of British MPs could be forced to stop employing close relatives after Harriet Harman admitted the practice threatened public confidence in politics. The Commons Leader warned the public would no longer tolerate the suspicion that members were using allowances to line their families' pockets

• Wednesday, June 17th 2009 - 05:12 UTC

  BRIC members meet to demand greater voice is world financial affairs

  

  The world's newest economic grouping, BRIC is to hold its first summit in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg beginning Tuesday. BRIC is named after its four member states - emerging giants Brazil, Russia, India and China; they account for 13% of global GDP and 40% of world population.

• Tuesday, June 16th 2009 - 11:12 UTC

  Peru/Bolivia diplomatic rift over deadly clashes in Amazonia

  

  Peru withdrew on Monday its ambassador to Bolivia, Fernando Rojas, in protest against Bolivian President Evo Morales calling the June 5 deaths of indigenous people in north Peru “genocide”.

• Tuesday, June 16th 2009 - 11:09 UTC

  Lula da Silva promises to teach lessons how to address an economic crisis

  

  President Lula da Silva said that Brazil is overcoming the current global crisis and is in a position to teach other countries how to address the adverse economic situation.

• Tuesday, June 16th 2009 - 10:59 UTC

  The US dollar still “all mighty” for some time to come

  

  The dollar has risen after Russian finance minister Alexei Kudrin said it would not be replaced as the world's reserve currency in the near future. Earlier in the week, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan had both questioned the dollar's status.

• Tuesday, June 16th 2009 - 10:49 UTC

  Mrs. Kirchner underlines “job-creation” capacity of her administration

  

  Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner in the midst of a tough battle to retain power in Congress in this month’s mid term election took the political debate to Switzerland where she addressed the annual meeting of the International Labour Organization, (ILO).

• Tuesday, June 16th 2009 - 04:41 UTC

  History Channel documentary on the Falklands 1982 air warfare

  

  The “Malvinas War” seen from the air is the documentary to be aired Monday in the History channel for its Spanish language customers. According to the release the “War from the air” is a unique documentary which shows one of the most outstanding angles, but least publicized, of the 1982 South Atlantic conflict, the air battles between the Argentine Air Force and the Royal Air Force.

• Monday, June 15th 2009 - 13:41 UTC

  Mujica and Lacalle lead June 28 Uruguayan presidential primaries

  

  With less than two weeks for the presidential primaries in Uruguay, Senator Jose Mujica, a former guerrilla captain, is leading comfortably and should on June 28th emerge as the candidate of the left wing ruling catch-all coalition, Broad Front. In the opposition the most probable presidential candidate will be former president Luis Alberto Lacalle.

• Monday, June 15th 2009 - 13:35 UTC

  Argentina is “waging economic warfare” on the Falklands

  

  The Falkland Islands government has accused Argentina of waging a campaign of “economic warfare” against it, according to an article in the Sunday edition of The Guardian by Robert Booth.

• Monday, June 15th 2009 - 13:28 UTC

  Cuban dissident neurosurgeon arrives in Argentina

  

  The Cuban neurosurgeon Hilda Molina arrived in Argentina on Sunday to visit relatives, 15 years after she broke ranks with former leader Fidel Castro over the healthcare system on the island.