
A former Brazilian finance minister and the current head of the nation's state economic and social development bank allegedly pressured big construction firms into making campaign donations for President Dilma Rousseff, a newspaper reported on Sunday. If it proves correct it would be the first concrete lead linking the Petrobras corruption with BNDES, long suspected by Brazilian prosecution.

More than 50,000 workers blocked the centre of Comodoro Rivadavia, in Argentina's Patagonia main oil-producing region in a protest against layoffs. Striking oil workers were joined by teachers, truck drivers, builders and other sectors in the demonstration.

Unemployment and jobs are in the heart of public debate in Argentina. A public opinion poll released last week revealed that 48.3% of Argentines fear he/she or a relative might lose their jobs in the next six months.

A £55.7 million contract to upgrade infrastructure at MPA, in the Falkland Islands was signed this week between Southampton based Trant Engineering Ltd and the UK Defense Infrastructure Organization (DIO).

British Trade and Investment Minister, Lord Price said that Argentina and the UK are at the beginning of a new era in bilateral relations and in an excellent position to turn common interests into concrete business interests. Lord Price together with a mission of UK top business leaders ended on Friday a two-day visit to Argentina, the first in ten years.

More than 126 houses have been built and occupied in Stanley, capital of the Falkland Islands during the last four years with an increase from 10 in 2012 to 51 in 2015 with a third of the total builds being by Government.

Almost four million children in Argentina are poor and 8.5% live in extreme poverty, according to a report from UNICEF which measures multidimensional poverty which considers 28 indicators such as nutrition, access to healthcare, exposure to violence, among other more traditional references.

On 28 April, the British Ambassador’s Residence in Buenos Aires welcomed more than 400 people to celebrate the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. The last time that Buenos Aires held a celebration like this was in 2009 and it was an opportunity to praise the resumption of bilateral ties.

British Trade and Investment Minister, Lord Price, leads the UK’s first trade mission to Argentina in ten years, which arrived in Buenos Aires on Thursday. The mission looks to strengthen trade and investment relations with the third largest economy of Latin America.

Despite the Argentine government’s forecast of a much better economic scenario in the second half of the year, credit rating agency Moody’s disagrees, saying the economy is set to shrink by 1.5%, followed by a growing unemployment and an inflation rate well above 30%.