Stories for November 2011

Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 22:20 UTC
Greek bond holders prepare for 50% ‘hair cut’ discussions involving 100bn Euros

Greece and holders of its debt hope to agree on a proposal to halve its privately held debt within weeks, both sides said on Thursday, raising hopes that a key pillar of Greece's 130 billion Euros bailout is still on track.
Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 22:15 UTC
Italian cabinet receives ample Senate confidence vote; Monti outlines program

New Italian PM Mario Monti's government of technocrats passed its first test, winning a vote of confidence in the senate late Thursday. As expected, the government won the vote in the upper house of parliament easily, by 281 votes to 25.
Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 22:11 UTC
Brazilian federal police open a probe into an oil spill from a Chevron well

Brazilian federal police have opened a probe into US oil giant Chevron over alleged pollution linked to an oil spill at its offshore Frade project, local media reported Thursday.
Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 20:08 UTC
Colombian president tells new FARC leader: turn in or risk death

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos warned the new FARC rebel chief ‘Timochenko’ to reconsider waging war or risk the same fate as his predecessor, who was shot dead by Special Forces this month.
Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 20:01 UTC
Latin American economy has entered cooling phase, says Brazilian think-tank

The Latin American economy has entered a declining phase and will further slow down in coming months according to a report from the Brazilian think-tank Getulio Vargas Foundation, FGV.
Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 19:56 UTC
Germany and France clash over a greater role for the European Central bank

German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated Thursday her opposition to a greater role for the European Central Bank in helping to solve the Euro zone debt crisis, saying political action was required.
Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 19:53 UTC
Moody downgrades ratings of ten German public-sector banks

Moody’s ratings agency decided on Thursday to surprisingly downgrade the rating of ten German public-sector banks. This is the first time Europe’s largest economy in the region, which keeps the Euro zone afloat, is hit.
Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 19:07 UTC
Non-white, the majority population in the ‘racial democracy’ of Brazil

For the first time, non-white people make up the majority of Brazil's population, according to preliminary results of the 2010 census. Out of around 191m Brazilians, 91 million identified themselves as white, 82m as mixed race and 15m as black.
Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 18:54 UTC
Uruguay is Mexico’s strategic partner in Mercosur says President Calderon

The Mexican president underlined the strategic importance of Uruguay since it is the only Mercosur member that has a free trade agreement with Mexico, thus making it the ‘strategic partner’ of Mexico in Mercosur.
Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 17:41 UTC
G20 president says Uruguay is no ‘fiscal haven’ and praises transparency commitment

Uruguay received a huge political boost from Mexico (the same it was denied from its Mercosur partners under influence from Argentina) in its dispute with the recent G20 summit which through spokesperson French president Nicholas Sarkozy described Uruguay as a ‘fiscal haven’.