Politics

• Sunday, February 8th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Bolivia's Morales travels to Russia for energy deal

  Bolivian President Evo Morales is scheduled to visit Russia February 16 to sign formal agreements enabling Russia's state-run OAO Gazprom to invest in Bolivia's natural gas industry.

• Sunday, February 8th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Ecuador President Correa Expels US Embassy Attache

  

  Ecuador's left-wing president has ordered the expulsion of a senior US diplomat, accusing him of suspending aid to Ecuador's anti-drugs programme.

• Sunday, February 8th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Tories deny any possibility of Scottish independence

  

  United Kingdom Conservative leader David Cameron has said he would do everything in his power to prevent Scottish independence if he becomes Prime Minister. Mr Cameron's assertion comes days after his party backed the SNP's (Scottish National Party) budget north of the border.

• Sunday, February 8th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Warning to British “nationalized” banks on bonus rewards

  

  British Chancellor Alistair Darling has told RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) failure should not be rewarded with huge bonuses, but says he cannot rule out pay-outs for some staff.

• Sunday, February 8th 2009 - 01:59 UTC

  Bolivia's Morales: New constitution takes effect

  

  Evo Morales, Bolivia's president, has enacted a new constitution which hands greater powers to the country's indigenous majority and allows him to seek a second five-year term.

• Saturday, February 7th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Mrs. Kirchner believes Obama has read Perón's writings

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said this week she was pleased when she heard US President Barack Obama say that “trade unions are not part of the problem but part of the solution”.

• Saturday, February 7th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Uruguay's ruling coalition primary “nasty and foul”

  

  One of Uruguay's ruling coalition presidential hopefuls claimed the primary campaign was turning “nasty” and could leave “deep wounds” plus mistrust and called for a “clean, respectful campaign”. He admitted that he could be the target of an inside boycott.

• Friday, February 6th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Colombia's FARC releases last civilian hostage

  

  Colombia's Revolutionary Armed Forces, FARC, released Thursday the last civilian among a group of 22 so-called political captives held by the rebels. Two Red Cross helicopters were involved in the release of the former lawmaker Sigifredo Lopez, 45, held captive by the drug-funded group for almost seven years.

• Friday, February 6th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  FARC committed war crimes and act on paranoiac cowardice

  

  The last civilian hostage to be released by the Colombian rebel group FARC revealed that eleven of his kidnapped peers were killed shot in the back, by the guerrillas in an act of what he described as “paranoiac cowardice”.

• Friday, February 6th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  UNESCO calls for preservation of HMS Victory wreck

  

  The head of the United Nations cultural agency today called for the preservation of a British man-o-war sent to the bottom of the English Channel by a storm in 1744 with all hands and, it is said, a sizeable gold treasure.