Stories for April 29th 2015

Wednesday, April 29th 2015 - 22:59 UTC
Flexibility to discuss trade accords with third parties, Uruguay demands from Mercosur

Brazil's deteriorating economy and the recession tendency in Argentina, Mercosur main and largest partners, are influencing inter-group trade and the Uruguayan government is pressing for more flexibility that should allow it to negotiate agreements or understandings with third parties.
Wednesday, April 29th 2015 - 22:48 UTC
Uruguay insists Mercosur must achieve “a free trade zone which effectively works”

Uruguay again complained about the current stalled situation of Mercosur and called for members to 'sincere' themselves regarding the compliance of the original 1991 founding charter, and hopefully “we can at least reach the first stage of the chronogram: a free trade zone which effectively works and has not to bear the brunt of hurdles”.
Wednesday, April 29th 2015 - 09:33 UTC
Kathmandu is estimated to have moved 3 meters to the south, because of Nepal tremor

The tremor which struck Nepal on Saturday, April 25, killing more than 5,500 people so far, may have caused a land area around the capital Kathmandu to budge by several meters, experts say. The estimate is about 3 meters southward, according to initial analysis of seismological data obtained from sound waves which travel through Earth after an earthquake, said University of Cambridge tectonics expert James Jackson.
Wednesday, April 29th 2015 - 09:22 UTC
Argentine central bank increases reserves to highest level since November 2013

Argentina's central bank bought 630 million of dollars on the local currency market on Tuesday in one of its largest-ever purchases, a move that will bolster the country's precariously low hard currency reserves. Some 500 million of the dollars purchased were proceeds from last week's 1.5 billion auction of bonds by state energy company YPF.
Wednesday, April 29th 2015 - 09:14 UTC
Oil rich but power short Venezuela cuts working day to save electricity

Venezuela says it will cut the working day for public sector workers to five-and-a-half hours to conserve energy, down from eight to nine hours. The initiative is part of a nationwide electricity rationing plan.
Wednesday, April 29th 2015 - 08:40 UTC
“Being Argentine, they thought I would call myself Jesus II” and not Francis

After meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican on Tuesday, the president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, told his two million Twitter followers that the pontiff had spoken enthusiastically about his coming visit to the country and had even told him a self-deprecating joke about the Argentines.
Wednesday, April 29th 2015 - 08:24 UTC
Australia and Brazil angry at Indonesia for execution of drug-traffickers

An Indonesian firing squad executed eight convicted drug-traffickers from several countries on Tuesday, prompting Australia to recall its envoy to Jakarta and bringing an angry reaction from Brazil.
Wednesday, April 29th 2015 - 08:18 UTC
Petrobras contracting companies' officials released from jail and moved to house arrest

Brazil's Supreme Court has ordered the release from jail of nine executives from engineering corporations charged in the corruption investigation at state-run oil firm Petrobras. In a statement the court said that the executives had the right to defend themselves out of jail, although they will be under house arrest.
Wednesday, April 29th 2015 - 08:12 UTC
Falklands/Malvinas: Unasur message in support of Argentina's claims

Unasur and Argentina made public on Tuesday a letter dated last 5 April in which the regional group' Secretary General and former Colombian president Ernesto Samper, strongly supports Argentina's sovereignty claims over the Falklands/Malvinas and other South Atlantic Islands plus the adjoining maritime spaces.
Wednesday, April 29th 2015 - 08:07 UTC
The end of the BRICS

By Gwynne Dyer - ”The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable”, said John Kenneth Galbraith, the wisest American economist of his generation. (“A paltry honor,” he would have murmured.)