
Members of the Argentina's congressional bicameral commission investigating HSBC alleged illegal scheme to help Argentines evade taxes and siphon money out of the country, met in Paris with a group of French legislators and with UBS whistleblower Stéphanie Gibaud.

Fourteen Caribbean countries are among 30 territories blacklisted by the European Union (EU) as the world’s worst tax havens. The list published by the EU on Wednesday includes Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, and the British Overseas Territories of Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa announced he would temporarily withdraw two controversial tax bills from the legislature, saying he would give the public time to debate them. The bills, which would have raised taxes on inheritances and capital gains, generated uproar that led to mass street protests in recent days.

Brazilian senators seeking on Thursday to visit jailed opposition leaders in Venezuela said their minibus was stoned and blocked, forcing them to return to the airport. The group of opposition senators had planned to drive from the coastal airport of Maiquetía to the capital Caracas and then on to a military jail where hard-line opposition leader Leopoldo López has been for more than a year.

A dynamic, interactive and constructive workshop on how to tackle implementing the forthcoming International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s Polar Code has just concluded and fittingly, the workshop took place at London’s home of exploration, the Royal Geographical Society, Kensington.

In a display of her political standing, Argentine president Cristina Fernandez confirmed Daniel Scioli as her Victory Font's grouping presidential candidate forcing the other hopeful, whom she had also encouraged, Interior and Transport Minister Florencio Randazzo to step down from his candidacy.

The Mail on line revealed on Thursday a secret handwritten account of the Falklands War by Margaret Thatcher. The 128 page, 17,000 word handwritten memoir of the 1982 conflict reveals for the first time her anxiety on the eve of battle and her joy at winning back the Islands from Argentina.

The European Union also has difficulties in completing a draft proposal of goods and services to exchange with Mercosur in the search for a long delayed trade agreement between the two blocks, revealed Uruguayan vice-president Raul Sendic during a report to the Senate on his recent 10/11 June trip to Brussels for the Celac/EU summit. However in the third quarter of the year there should be positive news.

Citing an improving economy, the Federal Reserve signaled Wednesday it is most probably on track to raise historically low interest rates as early as September, but that rates are likely to climb more gradually than it previously

Thousands of striking teachers have taken to the streets in the Chilean capital Santiago to protest against education reform plans. The peaceful rally held on Wednesday turned violent when clashes erupted between riot police and a group of protesters, which led to the arrest of a number of people.