Politics

• Saturday, May 23rd 2009 - 15:29 UTC

  Cash short Venezuela negotiating loans from Brazil

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose administration is facing cash shortages as oil revenues plunge, is negotiating loans from Brazil's development bank to fund infrastructure projects, revealed the Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo.

• Saturday, May 23rd 2009 - 15:15 UTC

  Angry UK reaction to Spanish navy incident in Gibraltar waters

  

  Britain has told Spain that the recent incursion by a Spanish Navy vessel was an “unacceptable” violation of British sovereignty over Gibraltar waters. The complaint comes after a Spanish Navy fisheries protection vessel carried out checks on Spanish fishermen just off Gibraltar.

• Saturday, May 23rd 2009 - 15:05 UTC

  Obama administration invites Cuba to resume migration talks

  

  The United States Department said on Friday it had offered to resume talks with Cuba about Cuban migration to the United States, a fresh sign of US President Barack Obama’s effort to comply, even partially, with the virtually unanimous request from Latinamerica to improve relations with the Castro regime.

• Saturday, May 23rd 2009 - 15:02 UTC

  Expenses disclosure has turned Commons “unbearable” complains MP

  

  Tory leader David Cameron has criticised a Tory backbencher who claimed that MPs were victims of a “McCarthy-style witch-hunt” over their expenses claims. Nadine Dorries, who had warned there were fears that an MP could commit suicide, claimed the situation at Westminster had become “completely unbearable”.

• Saturday, May 23rd 2009 - 14:59 UTC

  Third re-election running “inappropriate” admits Colombia’s Uribe

  

  Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe says it would be “inappropriate” for him to seek a third consecutive term. His statement comes two days after the Senate approved a referendum that would ask voters to permit him to run again. Uribe did not, however, clearly rule out a re-election bid.

• Saturday, May 23rd 2009 - 14:51 UTC

  Bolivia and US agree to improve bilateral ties

  

  Bolivian President Evo Morales has called for a complete overhaul of his country's strained ties with the US. He urged “mutual respect” between the two nations, saying Washington should not interfere in Bolivia's affairs.

• Friday, May 22nd 2009 - 12:22 UTC

  Falkland Islands: weekly Penguin News Update

  

  Headlines: Captain Miller back at the helm after 30 years; Landing Day commemorated; Councillors prepare to set difficult budget; May Ball tonight.

• Friday, May 22nd 2009 - 12:18 UTC

  UK “deeply concerned” with Spanish advance of Gibraltar waters

  

  Britain’s Europe Minister, Caroline Flint, told the House of Commons this week that the British Government remained “deeply concerned” by recent developments in Europe affecting Gibraltar waters, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.

• Friday, May 22nd 2009 - 12:07 UTC

  Obama sends a letter to Cristina for the May 25th celebration

  

  United States president Barack Obama has sent a letter to President Cristina Fernandez praising Argentina’s efforts “to work as a constructive and stabilizing force in the region and beyond”.

• Friday, May 22nd 2009 - 01:42 UTC

  Steady culling of British MPs over expenses scandal practices

  

  British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been forced to defend two more of his Cabinet ministers as the expenses scandal showed little sign of abating. He insisted there was “no problem” with financial arrangements that meant Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon and Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell did not pay capital gains tax on second homes.