Politics

• Wednesday, April 21st 2010 - 03:24 UTC

  Argentine military Junta president sentenced to 25 years in prison

  

  Retired General Reynaldo Bignone, 82, the last leader of Argentina’s 1976-1983 military regime was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years in prison for crimes against humanity.

• Wednesday, April 21st 2010 - 03:16 UTC

  Lula da Silva says Brazil must extend a hand to Latinamerica’s poor countries

  

  President Lula da Silva defended his “diversification” diplomacy and said that Brazil must extend “a friendly hand” to all Latinamerican countries. He recalled that some interest groups in Brazil wanted him to strongly confront the governments of Bolivia and Paraguay because of differences over energy policies.

• Wednesday, April 21st 2010 - 03:11 UTC

  Argentina and Venezuela announce a “new world order of relationships”

  

  Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Venezuela’s leader Hugo Chávez said “the new world requires a new logic to accept a new order of relationships” during a meeting held at the presidential palace of Miraflores in Caracas.

• Wednesday, April 21st 2010 - 03:04 UTC

  Brazil’s main presidential candidate considers Mercosur a “farce” and a “barrier”

  

  Brazil’s leading presidential candidate Jose Serra described Mercosur as a “farce” and a “barrier” for Brazil to sign trade agreements with other countries.

• Tuesday, April 20th 2010 - 17:31 UTC

  Strong reference to the Falklands at Venezuela’s dawn of ‘a new independence’

  

  Argentina’s president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner called on Monday for the end to the Falklands/Malvinas “colonial enclave”, as she forecasted from Venezuela, standing as a privileged guest next to Hugo Chavez, that Latinamerica is in the process of a “second independence”.

• Tuesday, April 20th 2010 - 16:35 UTC

  Chavez marks “true-independence” with impressive military and militias’ parade

  

  Venezuela kicked off celebrations marking 200 years of struggle for independence with an impressive several hour long military parade. Recently-acquired Chinese K-8 planes and Russian Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft swooped through the sky during a lavish military parade in Caracas, as soldiers from Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Libya, Nicaragua and Russia joined those on the ground.

• Tuesday, April 20th 2010 - 14:33 UTC

  IATA criticizes Europe’s management of airports’ ash cloud-closure

  

  The International Air Transport Association (IATA) sharply criticized Monday Euroepan governments for their lack of leadership in handling airspace restrictions in light of the Icelandic volcano eruption and urged a re-think of the decision-making process.

• Tuesday, April 20th 2010 - 08:44 UTC

  Falkland Islands prepares for Queen’s Birthday Parade

  

  Falkland Islands will be celebrating the Queen’s birthday Parade on Wednesday April 21 at Victory Green, Stanley. According to a release from Gilbert House the parade will form up at Victory Green at 10.15 hours and Governor Alan Huckle will arrive at 10.30 hours.

• Saturday, April 17th 2010 - 06:30 UTC

  Two main hopefuls in Colombia’s May 30 presidential race

  

  Colombian presidential candidates Juan Manuel Santos and Antanas Mockus have increased their lead in the run-up to the May 30 balloting, a new poll released Thursday revealed.

• Saturday, April 17th 2010 - 06:29 UTC

  Argentina’s “next step” is to negotiate 7.5 billion debt with the Paris Club

  

  After unveiling Argentina's debt-swap details Thursday, Economy Minister Amado Boudou said on Friday that the next step is to negotiate the 7.5 billion dollar debt Argentina maintains with the Paris Club.