Politics

• Tuesday, February 12th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Spain summons UK ambassador over Gibraltar oil spill

  Spain summoned British ambassador to Madrid Denise Holt to protest an oil spill off Gibraltar that has polluted Spanish beaches, Environment Minister Cristina Narbona said Monday in the southern city of Seville.

• Tuesday, February 12th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Guessing game: how much presidents really make?

  

  United States president George W. Bush ranks as the highest paid leader in the Americas and Fidel Castro the most modest, according to officially disclosed figures, which are not always entirely reliable, following on a report from the Spanish media.

• Monday, February 11th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Venezuelan regime declares Spanish singer “persona non grata”

  Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz who this week ends a Latinamerican tour in Costa Rica said he was desolate his concert in Caracas had been again canceled after Venezuelan government officials declared the 14-time Latin Grammy Award winner “persona non-grata”.

• Monday, February 11th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Whale Valley in Egypt joins UNESCO World Heritage list

  Wadi Al-Hitan, Whale Valley, in the Western Desert of Egypt, which contains invaluable fossil remains of the earliest, and now extinct, suborder of whales, Archaeoceti received the official document which includes it in the UNESCO World heritage list.

• Monday, February 11th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  G7 agree on downturn forecast but respect “economic diversity”

  U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in Tokyo that the global economy faces “downside risks” from the rout of capital markets that is “serious and persisting” but insisted he was convinced the US economy would continue to grow in 2008. At no time did he use the feared word “recession”.

• Sunday, February 10th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Cristina ready to travel and patch up relations with USA

  

  Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is preparing for an agenda of international meetings, both at home and overseas, with the purpose of fulfilling her electoral promise that global relations will be paramount for her administration, reports the Buenos Aires press.

• Saturday, February 9th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Vazquez launches cabinet reshuffle with October 2009 in mind

  

  Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez confirmed Saturday a deep reshuffle of the cabinet which in this first stage includes at least four relevant posts: Foreign Affairs, Defence, Industry and Energy; Education and Culture and Housing and Environment. The announcements are scheduled to be made public in the course of next week.

• Saturday, February 9th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Uruguay denies military alliance with Venezuela

  

  The Uruguayan government told Congress in Montevideo that it has no plans for a military alliance with Venezuela. The question was brought up following revelations that a delegation of Venezuelan military and scientists would be traveling in a Uruguayan navy vessel to Antarctica later this month.

• Friday, February 8th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Falkland Islands: Weekly Penguin News update

  

  Headlines: Farewell, grand old lady; Veterans' house in Stanley - hopes high for year end opening; Upland Goose conversion approved; Drugs arrests.

• Friday, February 8th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  C. Kirchner invited to London; Falklands unofficial talks?

  

  Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is ready to visit London next April although Buenos Aires press reports indicate that the Kirchner administration would like to see advances in the Malvinas war next of kin humanitarian visit to the Falklands Islands for the inauguration of the Argentine cemetery, before the final decision is taken.