Stories for December 2010

Friday, December 10th 2010 - 04:31 UTC
Venezuela’s Mercosur incorporation hostage of Argentine/Paraguay conflict

Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo for the second time in a year withdrew the request from Congress for the approval of Venezuela’s incorporation as a full member of Mercosur. This leaves the issue for next year.
Friday, December 10th 2010 - 04:26 UTC
Most Chileans have a “poor” and “unhealthy” diet shows nutritional report

A study by the Catholic University of Chile and the Banmedical Foundation showed that 62% of Chileans were found to have a “poor diet” and 29% an “unhealthy” diet.
Friday, December 10th 2010 - 02:21 UTC
Brazil’s trade surplus down 40% in 2010 boosted by demand for imports

Brazil’s trade surplus this year should reach 16 billion US dollars, which is 40% below 2009, according to Foreign Trade Secretary, Welter Barral. He added it was too early to talk about 2011 targets, given the world scenario and “at this stage we can’t say if we are going to run a (trade) deficit next year”.
Friday, December 10th 2010 - 02:15 UTC
Infrastructure loan to improve living conditions in Rio do Janeiro’s favelas

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s second biggest city will receive a 150 million US dollars loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to improve living conditions in low-income neighborhoods, known as favelas.
Friday, December 10th 2010 - 01:59 UTC
Parmalat Calisto Tanzi sentenced to 18 years in prison for 18.6 billion bankruptcy

The founder of Italian dairy food company Parmalat, Calisto Tanzi, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the company's collapse seven years ago. Parmalat buckled in December 2003 under a18.6 billion US dollars hole in its accounts.
Friday, December 10th 2010 - 01:54 UTC
British expedition claims to have established Antarctic land-crossing record

British expedition to Antarctica says it has succeeded in establishing a new record - the fastest land crossing of the southernmost continent.
Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 21:00 UTC
One in four admit having paid bribes last year, says Transparency International

Corruption has increased over the last three years, say six out of 10 people around the world, and one in four people report paying bribes in the last year. These are the findings of the 2010 Global Corruption Barometer, a worldwide public opinion survey on corruption, released on International Anti-Corruption Day, 9 December, by Transparency International (TI).
Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 20:51 UTC
Unasur members will share and disclose data on military expenditure

For the first time ever South American countries will jointly share and disclose data on their military expenditures, according to the Ecuadorian Ministry of Defence. It is anticipated that next March all member countries from Unasur (Union of South American Nations) will make public the information following on this year’s approval of a common methodology to measure Defence expenditure.
Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 16:31 UTC
Moody’s rates Uruguay just below ‘investment grade’ but next step 'distant'

Moody's Investors risk Service raised the sovereign foreign currency credit rating for Mercosur member Uruguay by two notches to Ba1 from Ba3 on Wednesday, leaving it just below investment grade, citing improved debt and fiscal indicators.
Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 15:46 UTC
UK Treasury increases bank levies, ‘fair contribution to the public coffers’

The United Kingdom Treasury has raised the rate it will impose on banks under its new levy in 2011 and 2012. The Treasury said in draft legislation for the Finance Bill 2011 that the levy for 2011 will be 0.05% of total liabilities rather than the 0.04% announced in June. The levy for 2012 will rise to 0.075% instead of the previously proposed plan levy of 0.07%.