The Argentine government has plans to intervene in the administration of the country's largest airline and flag carrier Aerolineas Argentinas, which has been hit by a series of labor disputes, Buenos Aires media reported on Wednesday.
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet warned Wednesday that Euro nations are already seeing the first signs of an inflation price spiral and called on governments to help contain wage hikes that could fuel further price rises.
Argentine retail sales at national level plummeted in June falling 18.3% compared to the same period a year ago, the worst performance since the country began recovering from the 2001/02 collapse of the economy according to a release from the Argentine Confederation of Small Enterprises, CAME.

Cuban vice president Esteban Lazo called on his fellow Cubans to understand that work is essential and that we must accept we lack the need for an extraordinary economic culture.

In United States as in the rest of world, consumers have suffered the impact on rising food and fuel prices of adverse climate, larger global demand and roaring speculation. But even so on average, US consumers still spend 10% of their income on food, which is possibly the lowest in the world according to the latest surveys from the American Farm Bureau Federation, AFBF.

Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and her Uruguayan counterpart Tabare Vazquez expressed on Monday deep concern over the new European Union migration policy and argued in favor of the positive aspects of migration.

An estimated 9 billion US dollars left Argentina between late March and the end of June on fears of growing uncertainties about the country's economy and the on going stand off with farmers who are protesting President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner administration policies towards the camp.

Mining giant BHP Billiton has reached a deal with China's largest steelmaker to almost double iron ore prices. Under the agreement, covering contracts for one year from 1 April 2008, BHP will increase its prices by up to 96.5% for deliveries to state-owned Baosteel.

Brazilian stocks partly recovered (0.16%) on Friday after their worst week in nearly a year with the Sao Paulo Bovespa index falling 7.7%, -below the 60.000 benchmark-, in line with global markets and concerns about oil and inflation.
South Korea's president called for an end to an on going dispute over United States beef imports, saying it was time for the nation to concentrate on overcoming domestic and economic difficulties.