Stories for January 2010

Monday, January 11th 2010 - 13:09 UTC
Chavez warns Army will take control of businesses that increase prices

Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez, has said troops will seize control of any business that increases prices in response to the devaluation of its currency.
Monday, January 11th 2010 - 13:05 UTC
Argentina says that import licences saved over half a million jobs

Argentina’s Production Ministry has revealed documents indicating that some 542,370 job posts were saved by the application of non-automatic import licences. Some 21,510 jobs were saved by anti-dumping measures, which led to the protection of 563,880 jobs through the prohibition of mass importation of low-cost products.
Monday, January 11th 2010 - 12:56 UTC
Brazil’s Human Rights minister threatens to resign over controversial bill

Brazilian Minister of Human Rights Pablo Vanucchi threatened to resign on Sunday if the military are successful in reviewing the bill creating a Truth Commission on the Brazilian dictatorship (1964/1985) which caused internal turmoil in the administration of President Lula da Silva.
Monday, January 11th 2010 - 12:46 UTC
China will construct Bolivia’s first satellite; Morales travels to Beijing

Bolivian president Evo Morales will be travelling to China next March to sign an agreement for the construction and launching of the country’s first telecommunications satellite, reported Bolivian government sources on Sunday.
Monday, January 11th 2010 - 12:41 UTC
Budget emergency and draconian spending cuts in California

The governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has unveiled deep spending cuts aimed at containing the state's 20 billion US dollars budget deficit. Spending on health, welfare, transport and the environment is to be reduced.
Monday, January 11th 2010 - 12:33 UTC
Central bank conflict: Argentina’s institutional soundness at stake

Argentina's government filed an appeal this weekend against a court ruling that blocked its plan to use Central Bank reserves to pay debts and ordered the bank president's reinstatement, the Cabinet chief said.
Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 14:18 UTC
Chavez devalues Bolivar, establishes dual exchange rate

Venezuela devalued on Friday the official exchange rate of the Bolivar currency for the first time since March 2005, and created a second exchange rate for non-essential imports, to stimulate exports and close a fiscal deficit.
Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 14:15 UTC
Botnia dispute “possibly linked” to burglaries in Uruguayan embassy in Argentina

Uruguayan Foreign Affairs minister Pedro Vaz confirmed Friday that the embassy in Buenos Aires suffered several attacks, burglaries and threats during the last five year period and did not discard it could possibly be linked to the dispute with Argentina over the construction of a pulp mill on a shared border river.
Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 14:13 UTC
Argentine sovereign bond holdouts reject latest payment offer

Argentina's new debt-swap offer to US creditors is “unacceptable” and does not improve on a proposal it made five years ago, the president of the debt-holding group Argentina Task Force, Robert Shapiro, said on Thursday, quoted by French news agency AFP.
Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 14:01 UTC
Mr. Bean, the Spanish EU presidency and the next six months

Spanish diplomacy, authorities and the press have repeatedly insisted, with a certain degree of optimism, that with Madrid holding the six-month presidency of the EU, Latinamerica will be a priority.