Economy

• Wednesday, July 18th 2012 - 07:59 UTC

  Mexico banking regulator says it repeatedly warned HSBC on money laundering

  

  Mexico's banking regulator on Tuesday defended its role in a money laundering scandal engulfing HSBC Holdings Plc, saying it had repeatedly told the bank to improve lax controls over suspect funds passing through its accounts.

• Tuesday, July 17th 2012 - 23:36 UTC

  Argentine pro-government unions don’t trust Cristina’s stats and official inflation

  

  Despite having managed to split organized labour and declared war on its most powerful exponent the teamsters boss Hugo Moyano, the government of Argentine president Cristina Fernandez still has to deal with its unconvincing stats office and rampant inflation.

• Tuesday, July 17th 2012 - 20:35 UTC

  Uruguay’s 2011/12 rice harvest reaches 1.4 million tons with 7.850 kilos/ha yields

  

  Uruguay’s area to be planted with rice in the coming 2012/13 season is estimated at 179.000 hectares, slightly down from the 181.400 of this year, according to the country’s Department of Agriculture Statistics (DIEA) and based on a poll following the 2011/12 harvest.

• Tuesday, July 17th 2012 - 20:13 UTC

  Bernanke concerned with US economy but with no clues about what steps to follow

  

  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday offered few new clues on whether the US central bank was moving closer to a fresh round of monetary stimulus, even as he underscored his concerns over the economy's weakness.

• Tuesday, July 17th 2012 - 19:49 UTC

  Chilean village heartfelt thanks for Falklands support

  

  The Chilean village of Lolol in the Colchagua region has sent its heartfelt thanks, in the form of a plaque, to the people of the Falklands and the Chilean Community in the Islands for their very generous support following the devastation of buildings in the area as a result of the earthquake in 2010.

• Tuesday, July 17th 2012 - 19:37 UTC

  Three Paraguayan abattoirs cleared to export boneless beef to Israel

  

  Three Paraguayan abattoirs have been re-licensed by Israel to export boneless beef, according to the Paraguayan Rural Association, ARP, based on information from the country’s livestock and food sanitary services, Senacsa.

• Tuesday, July 17th 2012 - 19:27 UTC

  HSBC grilled in US Senate for lax controls enabling billions of money laundering

  

  The CEO of the U.S. division of the big international bank HSBC is apologizing for lax controls that lawmakers say allowed Mexican drug cartels to launder billions of dollars through the US operation and many other illicit transactions for years.

• Tuesday, July 17th 2012 - 04:42 UTC

  As the dollar clamp tightens in Argentina, the greenback traded at 6.31 Pesos

  

  The US dollar in Argentina soared on Monday and was trading in the “blue” or parallel market at 6.31 Pesos considerable higher than last Friday. The official rate climbed a modest half cent to 4.53 and 4.575 Pesos.

• Tuesday, July 17th 2012 - 04:39 UTC

  Brazilian auto workers begin protests fearing loss of jobs as investment is down

  

  A Brazilian union carried out a 24-hour strike at a General Motors Co factory on Monday to protest dwindling output on an assembly line where workers fear for the future of 1.500 jobs.

• Monday, July 16th 2012 - 23:59 UTC

  IMF cuts world growth forecast; Latam drops from 3.7% to 3.4%

  

  International Monetary Fund on Monday cut its global growth forecast and warned that the outlook could dim further if policymakers in Europe do not act with enough force and speed to quell their region's debt crisis.