Economy

• Monday, January 23rd 2012 - 04:12 UTC

  Foreign airlines in Argentina told to privilege local service-contractors and suppliers

  

  Fifteen foreign airlines operating from Argentina will have to report to the powerful Home Trade Secretary Guillermo Moreno a proposal to reduce their US dollars overseas remittances particularly to suppliers and services contracted overseas. It is estimated that these airlines remit a billion US dollars annually.

• Saturday, January 21st 2012 - 05:52 UTC

  Russia ‘far advanced’ to host the World Cup (in 2018) than Brazil

  

  Russia is already better prepared to host the 2018 World Cup than Brazil, which will stage the 32-team soccer competition in 2014, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Friday.

• Saturday, January 21st 2012 - 05:43 UTC

  US to make visa applications easier for Brazil and China nationals

  

  The US Department of State is committed to improving the visa process, decreasing interview wait times in key tourism markets such as Brazil and China and increasing the number of visas issued, reported an official release.

• Saturday, January 21st 2012 - 05:36 UTC

  Italian cabinet approves legislation to deregulate services and professions

  

  Italy's cabinet on Friday approved legislation to deregulate service sectors and professions in an effort to increase competition, cut costs to consumers and boost chronically weak growth in the Euro zone's third largest economy.

• Saturday, January 21st 2012 - 05:32 UTC

  Kodak given a year to reshape business out of bankruptcy

  

  Eastman Kodak Co. has a little more than a year to reshape its money-losing businesses and deliver a get-out-of-bankruptcy plan. Girded by a 950 million dollar financing deal with Citigroup Inc., the photography pioneer aims to keep operating normally during bankruptcy while it peddles a trove of digital-imaging patents.

• Saturday, January 21st 2012 - 05:26 UTC

  GM regains in 2011 title as the world’s top selling automaker

  

  General Motors Co regained its title as the world's top-selling automaker in 2011, less than three years after its 2009 taxpayer-funded bankruptcy under the Obama administration.

• Friday, January 20th 2012 - 16:28 UTC

  Brazil plans to counter Argentina’s latest imports’ measures, if they affect trade

  

  Brazil has plans to counter the latest battery of trade restrictions which Argentina announced, if they turn out to the barriers for Brazilian exports, reported the influential Folha de Sao Paulo.

• Friday, January 20th 2012 - 15:15 UTC

  Buenos Aires reacts to Brazilian comments that Argentina is “a permanent problem”

  

  Reacting to Brazil’s trade minister Fernando Pimentel comments describing Argentina as “a permanent problem” Industry Minister Debora Giorgi said that “the trade balance reality between Argentina and Brazil does not warrant Pimentel's complaints”.

• Friday, January 20th 2012 - 08:19 UTC

  Falklands vessels can re-flag and operate in Mercosur ports, says Hague

  

  Ships from the Falkland Islands that are barred from ports in Argentina and other Mercosur trade bloc countries can re-flag as British ships at any time to avoid the ban, British Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday.

• Friday, January 20th 2012 - 08:03 UTC

  Fitch anticipates it will review ratings of six Euro zone states

  

  Fitch expects its ratings review of six Euro zone states will result in downgrades of one to two notches in most of those countries, senior director Ed Parker said at a Fitch conference in Madrid.