Politics

• Friday, May 2nd 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Falkland Islands: Weekly Penguin News update

  

  Headlines: Concordia Bay is on her way; Anger at squid fee hike; Argentine protest at drilling plans; Co-op in difficulty?

• Thursday, May 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentine farmer grass roots to decide on government deal

  The Argentine government and farmers seem to have reached a deal just hours before the May 2 truce comes to an end. In exchange for liberating the wheat market and reopening the beef export registry, farmers will put the initiative to consideration, together with the extension of the truce, to their respective organizations.

• Thursday, May 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  European MPs visit Brazil to address beef and bio-fuels

  

  A delegation of 12 European Members of Parliament are currently in Brazil to assess livestock and beef conditions, and the bio fuels industry. The visit is considered significant because Brazil has only just managed to resume beef exports to the EU after Brussels imposed last February a temporary ban based on sanitary rules.

• Thursday, May 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Falklands entitled to develop a petroleum industry, says FCO

  

  The Falkland Islands government is entitled to develop a hydrocarbons industry underlined the United Kingdom after reaffirming its sovereignty over the South Atlantic Islands following a formal protest from Argentina regarding a “new oil exploration licensing round”.

• Thursday, May 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Bolivia wraps up majority control of oil and telephones

  

  Bolivia announced on Thursday, May first, that it had completed the purchase of majority ownership of four energy companies by buying back shares in the firms as part of a nationalization drive started exactly two years ago.

• Thursday, May 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Lula da Silva praises Brazil's two sided “investment grade”

  

  Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva celebrated the country's newly acquired investment grade condition and magnet for foreign investment. “Brazil is a serious country, with serious policies, which looks after its finances seriously, and that is why we now have achieved the international trust, which Brazil was after for a long time”

• Thursday, May 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Call to defend human rights activists in Colombia

  

  A group of independent United Nations experts have called for urgent measures to protect those defending human rights in Colombia, following a recent surge in violence that includes killings, harassment and intimidation of civil society activists, trade union leaders and lawyers representing victims.

• Wednesday, April 30th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentine minister denies Cristina-Nestor “dual command”

  

  Argentine Justice Minister Aníbal Fernández has denied there is a “dual command” governing the country and said that President Cristina Fernández is the one in charge, not her husband, former President Néstor Kirchner.

• Wednesday, April 30th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Spanish court rejects extradition of former Argentine president

  

  However Spain's highest court has ruled that Peron, 77, was not implicated in the death squad's activities. The Anti-Communist Alliance or Triple A as it was known, murdered as many as 15-hundred people, according to human rights groups. The killings have been described as the start of Argentina's “dirty war” against leftist dissidents under subsequent military juntas.

• Wednesday, April 30th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Mrs. Kirchner denies rift with Spain over air flag carrier

  

  Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner underlined on Monday the close relations with Spain and vehemently denied tensions over the situation of Aerolíneas Argentinas whose major shareholders are Spanish and allegedly room is being made for Argentine investors to join.