Politics

• Wednesday, November 18th 2009 - 14:13 UTC

  The Mujica couple, if confirmed, promise an “austere and sober” government

  

  Senator Lucia Topolansky, who would become Uruguay’s First Lady if her husband and incumbent presidential candidate Jose Mujica is confirmed in the run-off on November 29th promises to keep to an “austere and sober” style of government.

• Wednesday, November 18th 2009 - 13:33 UTC

  Praise for the British press for exposing MP’s expenses scandal

  

  The head of Britain’s Press Complaints Commission has praised the exposure of Members of Parliament expenses claims - and said it showed the vital need to retain press freedom to investigate our “dysfunctional democracy”.

• Wednesday, November 18th 2009 - 09:28 UTC

  Chile in select group of eleven countries with insignificant mad-cow risk

  

  Beginning Tuesday Chile belongs to the select group of eleven countries who have insignificant risk of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), or mad cow disease. This places Chile among the nations with the best sanitary conditions on the planet.

• Wednesday, November 18th 2009 - 08:23 UTC

  Official media invites Cubans to open their minds and “disagree”

  

  The Cuban Official ruling Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma called on Cubans to open their minds and “disagree”, adding that it was “erroneous to coincide with all opinions” in a community that has been forged on the basis of “commitment and consensus”.

• Wednesday, November 18th 2009 - 08:14 UTC

  Argentina protests world-map circulating in Bolivia with the Malvinas as British

  

  The Argentine embassy in Bolivia officially protested, and demanded the immediate withdrawal of a National Geographic world-map circulating among the Bolivian Chamber of Customs agents and where the Malvinas Islands figure “with a colour different to that identifying Argentina”.

• Wednesday, November 18th 2009 - 08:10 UTC

  Cyber-war is here and to stay: ask US, China, Russia, Israel and France

  

  Major countries and nation-states are engaged in a “Cyber Cold War,” amassing cyber-weapons, conducting espionage, and testing networks in preparation for using the Internet to conduct war, according to a new report released by McAfee.

• Wednesday, November 18th 2009 - 07:24 UTC

  Che Guevara, “the worst that could have happened to Cuba” says Juanita Castro

  

  The presence of Ernesto Che Guevara in Cuba was “the worst that could have happened to my country” said Juanita Castro, sister of the ruling brothers of Cuba, (Fidel and Raúl Castro) and fellow fighters with the Argentine-born doctor in the Caribbean island revolution half a century ago

• Wednesday, November 18th 2009 - 07:23 UTC

  Influential US Congress members call for an end to Cuba travel ban

  

  Two key United States lawmakers say that Washington should allow its citizens to travel to Cuba to help promote 'democratic reforms' in that country. Veteran Republican Senator Richard Lugar and Democratic Congressman Howard Berman insist that the Cuba travel ban has been obsolete and should be discarded as a foreign policy measure.

• Wednesday, November 18th 2009 - 03:44 UTC

  Cristina and Lula da Silva meet to address bilateral trade conflict

  

  Argentina and Brazil presidents are scheduled to address trade disputes, Mercosur and other coming foreign policy issues when they meet Wednesday in Brasilia for their agreed regular contacts.

• Wednesday, November 18th 2009 - 03:17 UTC

  “Generous” contributions to US lawmakers to uphold embargo of Cuba

  

  Since the United States 2004 election cycle, a network of Cuban-American donors and political action committees (PACs) has donated in excess of 10 million US dollars to more than 300 US federal candidates in order to thwart any changes in the US embargo of Cuba, claims Public Campaign, a US citizens group working for “clean money, clean elections”