Stories for May 2nd 2013

Thursday, May 2nd 2013 - 08:18 UTC
Obama begins fourth visit to strategic Mexico with a full agenda of critical issues

President Barack Obama leaves on Thursday for Mexico and Costa Rica, on a strategic mission to deepen trade ties and jobs’ creation but also hoping to discuss US immigration reform, security threats and drug wars.
Thursday, May 2nd 2013 - 08:03 UTC
Where is Uruguay’s economy headed?

Fitch Ratings in March joined two other major ratings agencies in giving Uruguay its coveted investment grade, a move that lowers the nation’s borrowing costs and opens up opportunities for new investors.
Thursday, May 2nd 2013 - 07:56 UTC
British tax havens will have to open their banking systems to UK and EU scrutiny

Tax havens such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands will work more closely with Britain and other European countries to fight tax evasion, British finance minister George Osborne said.
Thursday, May 2nd 2013 - 07:50 UTC
Argentina’s seafood exports in two months: 48.418 tons; lower prices for hake, squid and shrimp

Argentina reported exports of 48.418 tons of seafood in the first two months of the year equivalent to 140.8 million dollars, which is 8.2% less than the same period a year ago, mainly because of lower prices.
Thursday, May 2nd 2013 - 07:45 UTC
Brazil leads meeting of Amazon basin Cooperation Treaty in Ecuador

Brazilian Foreign minister Antonio Patriota arrives Thursday in Ecuador for bilateral talks on trade, investment and immigration, and to attend a day later the Amazon group summit of ministers, reports Itamaraty palace.
Thursday, May 2nd 2013 - 07:37 UTC
Falkland Islands’ economy ‘strangling’ and intimidation by Argentina reported in British media

Argentina’s ongoing attempts to strangle the Falkland Islands economy by intimidating cruise vessels from calling at Stanley and other islands has been picked up by the Daily Mail in an article written by Ian Drury.
Thursday, May 2nd 2013 - 07:29 UTC
Brazil’s primary surplus well below target because of ‘government efforts to prop the economy’

Brazil posted a budget primary surplus of 3.5 billion Reais (1.75bn dollars) in March, recovering after a deficit in February, but still the worst performance in the first quarter of the last four years, according to central bank data released this week.
Thursday, May 2nd 2013 - 07:23 UTC
Israel defense supplier to establish an aerospace research hub in south Brazil

Israeli defense giant Elbit Systems Ltd. plans to create a hub of aerospace research in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, company officials said.
Thursday, May 2nd 2013 - 07:18 UTC
Foreign Office and Parliament plan strategy ahead of Scotland’s independence referendum

Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague welcomed the publication of the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee Report on foreign policy considerations for an independent Scotland. The Foreign Affairs Committee announced its inquiry into ‘the foreign policy implications of and for a separate Scotland’ on 18 July 2012.
Thursday, May 2nd 2013 - 07:12 UTC
Following the beatings of opposition members, OAS calls for dialogue in Venezuelan congress

The Organization of American States (OAS) expressed concern over the acts of violence that took place on Tuesday in the National Assembly of Venezuela and noted that “this reflects, in a dramatic way, the absence of a political dialogue that could reassure the public and the branches of government, in order to resolve the outstanding issues in this country in a climate of peace between all Venezuelans”.