The Latin American economy could grow by as much as 5% this year, more strongly than previously expected (4%), driven by Brazil's vigorous expansion, according to a senior International Monetary Fund official.
The IMF and EU suspended a review of Hungary's funding program, set up in 2008 to save the country from financial meltdown, saying it must take tough action to meet targets for cutting its budget deficit.
Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, has said that China will continue to invest in European markets, despite the debt problems affecting many Euro zone countries. He was speaking in Beijing alongside the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. She described his pledge as an important signal that China has confidence in the Euro.
The nightmare of BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis – or Mad Cow Disease) is mercifully almost forgotten in the EU now. In total almost 200,000 cases of BSE were discovered in the EU. But there were only 67 cases last year and those were in very old animals probably infected many years ago.
Argentina is expecting over five million tourists this year, a historic record which represents a 15.5% increase over 2009, said Tourism Minister Enrique Meyer.
Billionaire Carlos Slim, in the short list of world’s richest and number one in Latinamerica is digging for gold in Mexico, taking advantage of bullion prices that touched a record last month while awaiting a broader economic rebound.
“It’s always a simple repeat of what happens in Iraq, Afghanistan or South America. It’s the white man who fights people he believes are inferior”, confessed US filmmaker Oliver Stone talking about his recent “South of the Border”.
Brazilian Foreign Trade Secretary Welber Barral flies Monday to Dominican Republic to promote bilateral and advance towards a road map for an agreement with Mercosur.
Spanish Foreign Affairs minister Míguel Angel Moratinos called for “understanding” from the released Cuban political prisoners which arrived in Spain and who are complaining about their ‘undefined’ legal status.
Global production of rough rice, the staple for half the world’s population, may be 6 million tons less than estimated earlier this year after prolonged dry weather in the Mekong River region hurt crops, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.