Stories for August 20th 2009
US does not have or seeks bases inside Colombia, said Hillary Clinton
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US-Colombia defence cooperation agreement would not create US bases in Colombia or significantly increase US military presence in the region.
Argentina and Brazil moving towards “financial integration”
Argentina and Brazil signed Wednesday an agreement to swap domestic currencies for the equivalent of a total 1.8 billion US dollars, which could be used to increase international reserves. The accord was described as an important effort towards “financial integration” in the framework of Mercosur.
Krugman anticipates strong Latam recovery, but behind Asia
Economics Nobel Prize Paul Krugman warned Wednesday that global real recovery will take time and that he’d be surprised to see within that scenario an improvement in the labour market. However he was upbeat about Latinamerica which he anticipated will recover faster that developed countries, although behind Asia.
Buenos Aires and Santiago among cheapest cities in the world
Oslo, Zurich, Copenhagen, Geneva, Tokyo and New York are considered the world's most expensive cities based on a standardized basket of 122 goods and services from the UBS “Prices and Earnings” survey.
Brazilian Senate corruption scandal closing in on President Lula da Silva
A former high ranking officer from Brazil’s Tax Office directly accused President Lula da Silva’s handpicked candidate for October 2010 presidential election of trying to stop a probe into the finances of the Senate’s chief family.
Buenos Aires tragic rock club manager convicted to 20 years in prison
Argentina's Court of Justice on Wednesday convicted and sentenced a club owner to 20 years in prison for a deadly club fire that killed 194 people but absolved the band that had played the night of the tragedy.
Chile in recession: economy sinks 4.5% in the second quarter
Chile’s economy shrank by 4.5% in the second quarter of this year, faring just slightly worse than the 4.4% GDP drop anticipated by economists, the Central Bank reported this week.
Rio Tinto selling assets to trim debt burden
Rio Tinto has agreed to sell four business units of its Alcan aluminium subsidiary for 2 billion US dollars as it seeks to trim its debt burden further. The Anglo-Australian mining giant is selling the four packaging businesses to Australian group Amcor.
