Stories for December 2013

Friday, December 20th 2013 - 06:54 UTC
Brazil and Germany, with UN support hit back at US cyber spying

UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution aimed at protecting the right to privacy of internet users. The resolution was introduced by Brazil and Germany after allegations that the US had been eavesdropping on foreign leaders, including Brazil's Dilma Rousseff and Germany's Angela Merkel.
Friday, December 20th 2013 - 06:48 UTC
Stiglitz says China demand for better diet will keep Mercosur countries busy

The commodities-exporting economies of Latin America will continue expanding in the years ahead, driven by demand from China despite slower growth in its economy, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said during a conference round in Uruguay.
Friday, December 20th 2013 - 06:41 UTC
Brazil expects to begin exporting matured beef to the US in first half of 2014

Brasilia and Washington have taken the latest technical steps to open the US market to Brazilian beef, which if all runs smoothly together with a 60 to 90 days public consultation period could see the first shipments in the second quarter of next year. Currently because of sanitary barriers linked to Foot and Mouth Disease, FMD, Brazil can only export industrialized beef to the US.
Friday, December 20th 2013 - 06:35 UTC
After fifty years Cubans can now buy and sell cars, but for most non affordable

Cubans will be able to buy new and second-hand cars from state-run retailers without a permit under new rules approved by President Raul Castro's government. The measure, announced Thursday by the official media, is another step in Castro's plan to “modernize” the island's socialist economy and lift decades-old market restrictions.
Friday, December 20th 2013 - 06:28 UTC
US planning a new trade agreement with Latam, but through NAFTA

The President Barack Obama administration is “exploring” a regional trade plan for the Americas that would be the most ambitious hemispheric initiative in years, but contrary to the failed experience of George Bush's FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas), this time it would be instrumented through Nafta (North American Free Trade Agreement) partners Mexico and Canada, according to a Miami Herald interview of Andres Oppenheimer with Secretary of State John Kerry.
Friday, December 20th 2013 - 06:20 UTC
November, warmest month since modern temperature record keeping began in 1880

Last month was the warmest November since modern temperature record keeping began in 1880, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced in its latest State of the Climate Report, which summarizes climate-related news from around the world.
Friday, December 20th 2013 - 06:17 UTC
Despite sluggish economy, Brazil unemployment at record low 2.6% in November

Unemployment in Brazil's six-largest cities was 4.6% in November compared with 5.2% in October, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE, said on Thursday. That was the lowest monthly reading since December 2012, when unemployment was also at 4.6%.
Friday, December 20th 2013 - 06:11 UTC
Brazil denies EU charges of protectionism and discriminating tax measures

Brazil on Thursday strenuously denied European Union charges it engages in protectionism and said it would show its trade programs conform to WTO rules. The EU took Brazil to the World Trade Organization Thursday, complaining it was using taxes to discriminate against imports and illegally help its exporters
Friday, December 20th 2013 - 06:09 UTC
Venezuela considering increase in gasoline prices, world's cheapest: 2 cents a liter

President Nicolas Maduro said he was contemplating a three-year period to raise domestic fuel prices; a sensitive issue for Venezuela where a similar move helped spark deadly 1989 riots.
Friday, December 20th 2013 - 06:05 UTC
Four million Britons heading overseas for Christmas break; 13 million will take to the roads

Around four million Britons will be heading overseas for the Christmas break, with those staying behind having to contend with packed roads and disrupted rail services.