Politics

• Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 14:18 UTC

  Chavez devalues Bolivar, establishes dual exchange rate

  

  Venezuela devalued on Friday the official exchange rate of the Bolivar currency for the first time since March 2005, and created a second exchange rate for non-essential imports, to stimulate exports and close a fiscal deficit.

• Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 14:15 UTC

  Botnia dispute “possibly linked” to burglaries in Uruguayan embassy in Argentina

  

  Uruguayan Foreign Affairs minister Pedro Vaz confirmed Friday that the embassy in Buenos Aires suffered several attacks, burglaries and threats during the last five year period and did not discard it could possibly be linked to the dispute with Argentina over the construction of a pulp mill on a shared border river.

• Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 14:01 UTC

  Mr. Bean, the Spanish EU presidency and the next six months

  

  Spanish diplomacy, authorities and the press have repeatedly insisted, with a certain degree of optimism, that with Madrid holding the six-month presidency of the EU, Latinamerica will be a priority.

• Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 13:58 UTC

  Peruvian president anticipates “electoral crisis” but promises stability

  

  Peruvian president Alan García forecasted an “electoral crisis” in 2010 because of the political appetites of the opposition, but promised Peru will successfully overcome the situation it as it has done with the global economic turbulences.

• Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 13:45 UTC

  Morales chooses former Miss Bolivia to run for governor in opposition stronghold

  

  Former Miss Bolivia Jessica Jordan, 24, accepted an invitation from President Evo Morales to run for governor of Beni province as a member of his Movement Toward Socialism party in April 4 regional elections.

• Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 13:30 UTC

  Almost 500 Cuban doctors defected to the US while serving in Venezuela

  

  Around 500 Cuban doctors have defected to the United States while serving on aid missions in Venezuela, according to members of Cuban exile groups in Miami. The latest case occurred this week when seven Cuban physicians managed to leave Caracas’ Maiquetia International Airport, after being held there for several hours and after paying hundreds of dollars each to officials.

• Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 13:27 UTC

  Swiss regulators “violated” the law by handing bank information to the US

  

  Swiss financial regulator FINMA violated the law by authorising UBS to hand over details of 300 clients to US authorities, a Swiss court has ruled.

• Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 08:29 UTC

  Anti-whaling activists call for criminal investigation into sinking of protest boat

  

  Anti-whaling activists have asked the Dutch public prosecutor to launch a criminal investigation into a clash between protesters and Japanese whalers in Antarctic waters which led to the sinking of a protest boat.

• Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 08:11 UTC

  Clash for Argentina’s Central bank reserves turns into political turmoil

  

  Martin Redrado was “restored” Friday to his post as President of the Argentine Central Bank following an injunction from Federal Judge María José Sarmiento. Redrado had been removed Thursday by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner through an emergency decree for having resisted releasing 6.6 billion US dollars from the bank’s reserves

• Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 08:08 UTC

  Surprise rise in US unemployment during December

  

  US employers unexpectedly cut 85,000 jobs in December, but the unemployment rate held steady at 10%, official figures have shown. The number of job losses was surprising, particularly after November's figures had been revised.