Stories for September 13th 2016

Tuesday, September 13th 2016 - 19:56 UTC
Brazil launches ambitious program to auction off oil, power and infrastructure concessions

Brazil on Tuesday launched a multibillion-dollar plan to auction off oil, power rights and infrastructure concessions, in an attempt by the new government to bolster private investment in a moribund economy. The government will sell operating licenses for airports in the cities of Porto Alegre, Salvador, Florianopolis and Fortaleza by the first quarter of 2017. It also plans to sell rights to operate federal roads in the center-west and south regions later next year.
Tuesday, September 13th 2016 - 19:51 UTC
Macri announces top level meeting with UK to address ''all issues'', next week in New York

Argentine president Mauricio Macri described as a “gesture” the attendance of Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan at the Business and Investment forum in Buenos Aires, and anticipated that UK and Argentina are preparing a bilateral meeting next week in New York on the sidelines of the annual UN general assembly to address all issues including Falklands/Malvinas.
Tuesday, September 13th 2016 - 11:16 UTC
Fed expected to keep cautious approach to interest rates next week

North American stock markets rallied today after a U.S. Federal Reserve official hinted that the central bank remains cautious about interest rate hikes. Fed governor Lael Brainard said the risk with raising rates too soon is that it could damage the fragile economy.
Tuesday, September 13th 2016 - 11:10 UTC
World's second largest meteorite discovered in northern Argentina

The world's second largest meteorite has been discovered in northern Argentina, a news report says. A team of experts found the 30,800 kilogram meteorite buried in the province of Chaco, about 800 kilometers northwest of Buenos Aires on Saturday, the news agency Telam reported.
Tuesday, September 13th 2016 - 10:58 UTC
UK a most unequal country; 10% of population own over half of the wealth

The richest 1% of the UK population owns more than 20 times the wealth of the poorest fifth, according to Oxfam. That made Britain one of the most unequal countries in the developed world and contributed to the vote for Brexit, the charity said.
Tuesday, September 13th 2016 - 10:44 UTC
First OAS Electoral Observation Mission to the US next November 8

The former president of Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla, will head the first Electoral Observation Mission that the OAS will deploy to the United States and that will observe the upcoming November 8 elections.
Tuesday, September 13th 2016 - 10:28 UTC
Controversy in Westminster over the surface fleet and the Type 26 frigates

British MP Julian Lewis, who chairs the Commons defense committee, claimed contractors BAE Systems were ready to start work on the multi-billion pound Ministry of Defense's new Type 26 frigates, known as global combat ships. The project has already been cut from 13 to eight new ships, while a target to start cutting steel in May has been delayed indefinitely.
Tuesday, September 13th 2016 - 10:17 UTC
More than 230 cruise ships will pass through the Panama Canal this 2016/17 season

Cruise ship Coral Princess is slated to transit the Panama Canal on a voyage from Los Angeles, Calif., to the U.S. East Coast on October 4, 2016, officially kicking off the canal’s 2016-2017 cruise season, which according to the Panama Canal Authority will see more than 230 cruise ships pass through the Panama Canal.
Tuesday, September 13th 2016 - 09:55 UTC
“If beef is not included”, there won't be no Mercosur-EU trade agreement, warns Uruguay

“If beef is not included, there won't be any agreement”, said Uruguay's foreign minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa in anticipation of next week's meeting of European Union and Mercosur coordinators to adjust the list of goods and services the two blocks will formally exchange in mid October, the first formal meeting of its kind in fourteen years.
Tuesday, September 13th 2016 - 09:42 UTC
Brazilian congress expels lawmaker who engineered Rousseff's impeachment

Two weeks after the removal of Dilma Rousseff as Brazil's president, the lower house of Congress on Monday expelled the lawmaker who engineered her impeachment for lying about secret bank accounts in Switzerland. The once powerful former speaker Eduardo Cunha, who has been charged with corruption by the Supreme Court, was banned from politics for eight years and faces arrest now he has lost his congressional prerogatives.