Politics

• Friday, January 15th 2010 - 05:28 UTC

  Euro-zone countries “need bold measures to improve confidence”

  

  The European Central Bank left interest rates on hold at their historic low of 1% at its first meeting for the year Thursday amid concerns about Greece's debt crisis.

• Thursday, January 14th 2010 - 12:16 UTC

  Haiti with no relief for thousands of injured and buried in the rubble

  

  Haitian President Rene Preval has said thousands of people are feared dead following a huge quake which has devastated the country's capital. Mr Preval said the UN mission chief in Haiti was among the dead. It said at least 14 other UN staff had died and 56 were injured.

• Thursday, January 14th 2010 - 12:00 UTC

  Brazil elected to board of directors of Bank for International Settlements

  

  Brazil’s Central bank president Henrique Meirelles was elected to the board of directors of the Bank for International Settlements, a further sign of the country's increasing clout in the world economy.

• Thursday, January 14th 2010 - 04:53 UTC

  Mrs. Kirchner resuscitates ghosts from the 2001/02 default crisis

  

  Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on Wednesday again attacked the opposition and called for “reflection” from all those sectors involved in the dispute over Central Bank reserves to avoid repeating the “errors of the past”.

• Thursday, January 14th 2010 - 04:51 UTC

  Chilean maverick candidate will vote to impede Piñera becoming president

  

  With only four days left for the Chilean presidential election run-off next Sunday the former independent hopeful Marco Enriquez-Ominami, MEO, publicly announced his support for incumbent candidate Eduardo Frei, although not mentioning his name once.

• Thursday, January 14th 2010 - 02:57 UTC

  Piñera leads with a slight margin in Chile’s presidential run-off next Sunday

  

  Chilean opposition conservative candidate Sebastián Piñera is poised to win, albeit by a slight margin, on next Sunday’s (Jan. 17) presidential run-off with the incumbent candidate former president Eduardo Frei, according to the latest public opinion poll released Wednesday in Santiago.

• Wednesday, January 13th 2010 - 12:16 UTC

  Argentine central bank reserves dispute adds another player: New York Judge

  

  Argentina’s central bank reserves dispute suffered an expected escalation when on Tuesday Judge Thomas Griesa from New York State placed an embargo on Argentine central bank accounts held in the United States, following a lawsuit filed by investment funds (or “vulture funds”).

• Wednesday, January 13th 2010 - 10:53 UTC

  Uribe’s re-election bid for a third term supported by Colombia’s ombudsman

  

  Colombia's Constitutional Court should approve a referendum to allow President Alvaro Uribe to run for re-election, the country's ombudsman said on Tuesday, which could open the way for a third consecutive mandate bid in the coming May presidential elections.

• Wednesday, January 13th 2010 - 08:41 UTC

  Mujica in Argentina to discuss agenda of “mutual interest issues”

  

  Uruguayan president elect Jose Mujica travelled Tuesday to Buenos Aires to hold a meeting with her Argentine peer Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and other officials, confirming his promise that “we need a healthy and strong relation with Argentina”.

• Wednesday, January 13th 2010 - 08:29 UTC

  Brazilian industry calls for end of “strategic patience” trade policy with Argentina

  

  Brazil’s strongest manufacturing organization (and lobby) is considering the possibility that the country “ceases to be tolerant” towards Argentine trade restrictions and consider the possibility of withdrawing from Mercosur.