Latin America

• Monday, September 30th 2013 - 19:06 UTC

  Outgoing Piñera announces a 2014 tight budget for the next government

  

  The Chilean government plans to raise spending 3.9% next year, the second-smallest increase since 2003 and below the central bank’s forecast for economic growth in 2014. The budget will focus on employment, education, crime, poverty, children, pensioners and infrastructure, President Sebastian Piñera said in a televised address without giving details.

• Monday, September 30th 2013 - 16:32 UTC

  Paraguay’s Cartes in Brazil to discuss trade, security, cooperation and Mercosur

  

  Paraguay president Horacio Cartes arrived Monday morning to Brazil for a round of talks with President Dilma Rousseff which includes political, economic, energy, trade and security issues, plus the full return of Paraguay to Mercosur, an intricate matter dating back to events of June 2012.

• Saturday, September 28th 2013 - 05:08 UTC

  Petrobras makes ‘beautiful’ discovery and generates a new promising oil province

  

  Brazil's Petrobras and its Indian partners have made a “beautiful” oil discovery off Brazil's northeast coast, Sergipe-Alagoas basin, and it will produce a minimum 100,000 barrels of petroleum a day starting in 2018, the company's CEO said on Friday.

• Saturday, September 28th 2013 - 04:48 UTC

  Rousseff is running for re-election: turns on her twitter after three years of silence

  

  Breaking almost three years of silence from her official Twitter account, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff on Friday sent a series of tweets joking with a famous parody account and defending Brazil’s economy.

• Friday, September 27th 2013 - 22:01 UTC

  Mujica inclined to support UPM pulp production expansion but conditioned to environment improvements

  

  Uruguay’s president Jose Mujica anticipated that his intention is to authorize the UPM pulp mill to expand production, as the Finnish company had requested, but conditioned to certain additional environmental measures, which will not be made public until talks with Argentine president Cristina Fernandez on Monday.

• Friday, September 27th 2013 - 21:40 UTC

  Jobs market remains strong in Brazil; unemployment down to 5.3% in August

  

  Brazil's jobless rate fell unexpectedly and salaries jumped in August from the previous month, government data showed this week. It was the second consecutive month-to-month drop in Brazil's jobless rate, which remains close to record lows.

• Friday, September 27th 2013 - 12:42 UTC

  “Uruguay does not need money, we need talent”, Mujica tells Vice-president Biden

  

  Uruguay “does not need money; we need talent, students that complete their formation in the US and return to Uruguay to share and invest their knowledge” president Jose Mujica told US Vice-president Jose Biden during an hour long meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

• Friday, September 27th 2013 - 08:10 UTC

  Uruguay planning a fluvial outpost next to a pulp mill questioned by Argentina

  

  The Ministry of Defence and the Navy share the dream of having a fluvial outpost at the head of the San Martin bridge” which links Uruguay with Argentina, said Uruguayan Defence minister Eleuterio Fernandez Huidobro following a joint forces exercise denominated ‘Turbulent River’ involving land, naval forces and air support.

• Friday, September 27th 2013 - 07:26 UTC

  Uruguay is much respected in international affairs, said President Mujica

  

  Uruguay’s voice is much respected in international affairs and this can be attributed to the country’s foreign policy, although ‘it’s not only a merit of this administration but a long term achievement’, said President Jose Mujica on Thursday in a brief exchange with the media delegation covering events in New York.

• Thursday, September 26th 2013 - 21:45 UTC

  Pacific Alliance makes its official presentation in New York with three presidents

  

  The Pacific Alliance made its official presentation in New York before 200 business people and investors, mostly from the US, with four top anchor men: the presidents of Chile, Peru and Colombia and Mexico’s foreign trade minister since head of state Enrique Peña Nieto had to remain in the country because of the catastrophic floods.