Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner made on Friday a deep incursion into the province of Buenos Aires farmland where she headed the inauguration of a railway line which will reactivate the train service connecting twenty towns in the area.
After three months of mass protests that provoked a sharp drop in his popularity, Chilean President Sebastian Piñera agreed Friday to negotiate with students and teachers demanding more state funding for education and profound changes in government.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn was given back his passport on Thursday, his legal team said, clearing the way for the former IMF head to travel abroad for the first time since his arrest three months ago on sex crime charges.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared three days of mourning Friday and demanded a crackdown on drugs in the United States after armed men torched a casino in northern Mexico, killing at least 65 people.
Brazil’s unemployment rate fell in July to its lowest level this year, 6% from 6.2% in June, reported the National statistics office. Average real wages rose 4% from a year ago to 1.613 Real (999.50 dollars) a month.
Brazil’s budget primary surplus widened in July to a record for the month pushing the year-to-date total to almost 80% of the government’s 2011 target, according to the Central bank.
Two further headaches for embattled Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff who in eight months of government has seen four ministers and two deputy ministers step down under serious suspicions of corruption.
Brazil local-currency credit rating is being reviewed for an upgrade by Standard & Poor’s, which cited the country’s economic stability. The rating was affirmed at BBB+, the third-lowest investment grade, S&P said in a statement.
The Brazilian government has unofficially cut its outlook for 2011 GDP growth given a slowing world economy and unsustainably fast expansion last year, a local newspaper reported on Friday.
Steve Jobs took home 1 dollar a year for serving as Apple's CEO. The company's new leader, Tim Cook, is getting a richer deal. Apple's board has given Cook a restricted stock grant of 1 million shares, Apple reported late Friday in a regulatory filing. Those shares have a market value of 383.6 million dollars, based on the stock's closing price on Friday.