Politics

• Wednesday, June 18th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  EU approves tough rules for expelling illegal immigrants

  The European Parliament adopted on Wednesday tough rules on expelling illegal immigrants, which could see them held in custody for up to 18 months and banned for five years if they resist. 367 members of the European Parliament voted in favor of the bill and 206 MEPs opposed it, while 109 members abstained.

• Tuesday, June 17th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Spontaneous rallies surprise Kirchner and acolytes

  

  Thousands of Argentines on Monday evening spontaneously and peacefully took to the streets in cities, towns and villages banging pans to protest against the government and demand the resumption of dialogue with the farmers, on their 97th day of conflict.

• Monday, June 16th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Forecasting the “perfect storm” in an unruly Argentina

  Under the title of “The perfect storm”, Argentina's most recognized political analyst Joaquin Morales Solá describes the country's current political and social situation as dramatic, following a weekend when the government/farmers conflict escalated to new irreconcilable levels.

• Monday, June 16th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Land concentration and soy “pools” boom debate in Uruguay

  

  The debate on land concentration and the so called (financial) soybean pools, which is currently one of the main issues behind the Argentine farmers' conflict, has reached Uruguay where apparently the oil seed boom is rapidly displacing dairy farms.

• Monday, June 16th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Peru admits talks for US air facilities in the highlands

  The United States Army and the Peruvian Armed Forces Joint Command are in negotiations for the establishment of US air facilities in Peru, according to press reports from Lima.

• Monday, June 16th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Falklands targets Australian organic certification scheme

  

  THE Falkland Islands Development Corporation is to abandon its previous involvement with organic certification.

• Monday, June 16th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Uruguayan president visiting Panama, Cuba and Mexico

  Uruguay and Panama signed on Monday several cooperation agreements during the official visit of Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez to the Central American country, the first leg of a tour that will also take him to Cuba and Mexico.

• Sunday, June 15th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina farm strike flares again after crackdown

  A three-month standoff between Argentina's government and farmers over a tax hike turned violent on Saturday when military police in riot gear used batons to try to clear roadblocks on a main highway.

• Sunday, June 15th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Paraguay's future cabinet blends continuity &renewal

  

  Paraguay's president-elect Fernando Lugo whose historic election ended six decades of one-party rule in the country named a former leftist militant to head his Cabinet when he takes office on August 15.

• Sunday, June 15th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Over 90 bulk grain carriers queuing in the River Plate

  The Argentine farmers' conflict has the River Plate packed with grain bulk carriers waiting to load in Buenos Aires and Rosario (up the river Parana). An estimated 90 vessels are queuing with the tail reaching the access to the port of Montevideo, in neighboring Uruguay.