Politics

• Friday, November 20th 2009 - 11:55 UTC

  “Lack of political stability” weighs on Argentina’s credit ratings

  

  Contentious politics and a lack of political stability are the main factors weighing on the outlook for Argentina's credit ratings, Moody's Investors Services said on Thursday.

• Friday, November 20th 2009 - 11:52 UTC

  US banks “too big to fail” could be dismantled under new legislation

  

  A key US House of Representatives committee has voted to give the government the power to take apart banks that are “too big to fail”. The bill would give a proposed new council of regulators the right to dismantle firms whose scale could hurt the economy - even if they are healthy.

• Friday, November 20th 2009 - 10:35 UTC

  Compromise candidates for EU president and Foreign policy chief

  

  European Union leaders have opted for little-known compromise candidate, Belgium premier Herman Van Rompuy, to become the bloc's first full-time president, diplomats have said.

• Friday, November 20th 2009 - 09:46 UTC

  Chile’s presidential election: whoever wins, not much change

  Chile has been Latin America’s success story since the 1980’s, boasting rapid economic growth, successful integration into the world economy, solid democratic institutions, an effective state bureaucracy, and low levels of crruption. By most standards, the country is far better off than the rest of the region.

• Friday, November 20th 2009 - 08:45 UTC

  Brazilian Senate calls on a “medium” to explain major blackout causes

  

  Last week’s huge blackout in Brazil which left 18 of the country’s 26 states in the dark is becoming a major embarrassment for the government with opposition Senators summoning a medium to help explain the causes of the outage.

• Friday, November 20th 2009 - 02:47 UTC

  Uruguayan incumbent presidential candidate leads by 6 points in polls

  

  With only ten days for the Uruguayan presidential run-off, incumbent candidate Jose Pepe Mujica leads with 48% vote intention while his rival Luis Alberto Lacalle stands at 42% and the undecided 10%, according to the latest public opinion poll released Thursday by a Montevideo newspaper.

• Thursday, November 19th 2009 - 13:26 UTC

  Russia opens its first embassy ever in Paraguay’s 200 year history

  

  The Russian Federation has formally opened its first embassy in Paraguay’s 200 year history. Although there have been diplomatic relations the Russian ambassador was concurrent from Buenos Aires and only since two decades ago.

• Thursday, November 19th 2009 - 13:23 UTC

  Brazil/Argentina agree trade differences should not influence political relation

  

  Brazil and Argentina ended Wednesday in Brasilia a full day of talks at presidential level without reaching a clear agreement on trade disputes that have caused disruptions to the bilateral relation.

• Thursday, November 19th 2009 - 05:42 UTC

  Israeli president Peres predicts the fall of Chavez and Ahmadinejad

  

  Israel President Shimon Peres predicted on his last day tour of Argentina and Brazil that the people of Venezuela and Iran will make their leaders disappear before too long. Speaking at a forum in Buenos Aires, Peres said both Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have gone crazy over oil, which he said is not bad to sell but “really dangerous if you swallow it.”

• Wednesday, November 18th 2009 - 14:22 UTC

  Honduran Congress will not vote on Zelaya until after the elections

  

  Congress in Honduras will not vote on whether to restore ousted President Manuel Zelaya until after elections this month, a senior lawmaker said.