Stories for November 29th 2013

Friday, November 29th 2013 - 23:41 UTC
Brazil corruption money: “between 32 and 53bn dollars in 2013” says FIESP

Corruption is not new in Brazil nor does it surprise public opinion but the magnitude of such extended practice is only coming to light with a recent study from the powerful manufacturing lobby, FIESP (Federation of Industries of Sao Paulo State) which states that the average annual cost of corruption in the country is between 1.38% and 2.3% of GDP, which the World Bank in 2012 estimated at 2.3 trillion dollars.
Friday, November 29th 2013 - 23:38 UTC
Mining giant Vale settles tax dispute: agrees to pay Brazil's treasury 9.6bn dollars

Mining giant Vale has agreed to pay the Brazilian treasury 9.6 billion dollars to settle a decade-long dispute over back taxes, after the country’s tax authority offered to reduce the corporation's original 14.1bn debt.
Friday, November 29th 2013 - 23:30 UTC
Brazil will have its own national-made secure communications satellite by 2016

Brazil's state-owned telecom provider Telebras signed a 560m dollar contract to deliver a satellite for secure communications on Thursday, following months of outrage over revelations of US cyber spying. A statement said a joint venture between Telebras and Embraer would deliver the geostationary satellite for strategic communications by late 2016.
Friday, November 29th 2013 - 22:06 UTC
Falklands involved oil company expects to raise £100 million in bond offer

Premier Oil expects to raise at least £100 million in a bond offer scheduled to close on 6 December. The FTSE 250 oil and gas company, with interests in the Falkland Islands, the North Sea, and South-East Asia, said its 5% sterling bonds auction has already built a book value of at least £100 million.
Friday, November 29th 2013 - 07:44 UTC
Mujica questions Argentine trade policies towards Mercosur that “take us back to the sixties”

Uruguayan president Jose Mujica again questioned Argentine president Cristina Fernandez administration trade policies which he said take us back 'to the sixties, when everybody locked in', and in effect deny Mercosur and harm other members.
Friday, November 29th 2013 - 07:39 UTC
Mercosur must have an only voice and act as a block, advises former leader Sarkozy

“Mercosur must have greater integration, act with an only voice and operate as a block”, advised former French president Nicholas Sarkozy at a business conference in Buenos Aires, where he also underlined that without the European Union, “France or Germany could have disappeared from the world map”
Friday, November 29th 2013 - 07:32 UTC
Outraged UK Parliament reacts to Spain's attitude towards Gibraltar and the diplomatic bags indecent

Outraged British members of Parliament from across the political spectrum reacted with disbelief to the explanations provided by the Spanish Government on the UK diplomatic bags incident at the Gibraltar border and called on the British Government to take a tougher stance in response.
Friday, November 29th 2013 - 07:23 UTC
Desperately dollar-short Venezuela planning gold reserves swap operation

Venezuela is evaluating a swap agreement involving gold reserves as a way to fortify dollar supplies in a country which suffers chronic product shortages and inflation close to 55%. Opposition leader Henrique Capriles said last week that the government was negotiating a swap operation with Goldman Sachs involving 1.45 million ounces of gold worth around 1.86 billion dollars.
Friday, November 29th 2013 - 07:17 UTC
Youth gangs raids in Rio beaches are back challenging police; US consulate alert

A truck with fourteen cameras with a 360 degree angle and a range of eight kilometers plus a fourfold increase in police numbers has been displayed along Rio do Janeiro most iconic beaches following an outbreak of 'arrastraos' or dragnets in which tens of teenagers stampede on to beachgoers to steal whatever they can get hold off.
Friday, November 29th 2013 - 07:08 UTC
Falklands oil exploration exposed to jail and fines according to Argentine law

Argentina has threatened oil firms seeking to operate off the Falkland Islands with 15-year jail terms, huge fines and confiscation of assets in a fresh salvo in the dispute with Britain over South Atlantic islands sovereignty. But UK reiterated that Argentine law does not apply to Falklands or British Overseas Territories.