Stories for January 17th 2009
Argentine unions: supermarkets index for wage increases
The head of Argentina's powerful General Labour Confederation, Hugo Moyano said this week that when collective wage bargaining opens unions will seek salary hikes higher than the official inflation rate of 7.2% announced by the state-run INDEC statistics office.
Spain's Repsol announces oil discovery offshore Brazil
Spanish oil company Repsol anounced this week the discovery of “traces” of hydrocarbons at a deepwater well being drilled off the Brazilian coast. In an official statement Repsol said the well was completed in Block BM-S-48, located in the Santos Basin off the coast of the south-eastern state of Sao Paulo.
Lula da Silva tells Obama: beware of the “government machine”
Brazil's president Lula da Silva said on Friday he would like to talk with US president elect Barack Obama before the “government machine” gets hold of him and expected the incoming leader “would change his vision on Latinamerica and acknowledge the advance of regional democracy”.
Growing controversy over the future of HMS Endurance
The Royal Navy has revealed it is arranging for HMS Endurance to be towed back to Portsmouth on a barge. The ice patrol vessel has been out of action since it suffered a major flood on December 16, and is currently berthed in the Falkland Islands, reports the Portsmouth press.
Amnesic Kirchner denies having ever supported pickets
Former president Nestor Kirchner joined the long list of Argentine officials which have lately called publicly for an end to the pickets on an international bridge leading to neighbouring Uruguay.
