Politics

• Friday, March 20th 2015 - 07:19 UTC

  Brazil's Real drops to lowest since April 2003; loss of 17% against the dollar this year

  

  No end to Brazil's economic woes: the Brazilian currency depreciated 2.7% on Thursday, at 3.30 Reales to the US dollar, its worst performance since April 2003. With this loss of ground the Real cut short a three day recovery, because since last Monday it had been climbing against the greenback.

• Friday, March 20th 2015 - 07:12 UTC

  Names of Argentines with HSBC offshore accounts in Switzerland to be made public

  

  Argentina will move forward with its investigation of the HSBC offshore accounts in Switzerland, and will make public the names of those Argentine citizens and organizations that held money overseas in the financial entity, allegedly with the purpose of eluding local taxes.

• Friday, March 20th 2015 - 07:05 UTC

  Ten people killed as small chartered plane crashes few minutes after takeoff in Uruguay

  

  Ten people have been reported dead when a small chartered airplane with Argentine plates crashed Thursday night after taking off at the Laguna del Sauce airport, near the Uruguayan resort of Punta del Este. Rescue teams and fire personnel confirmed at least seven charred bodies.

• Thursday, March 19th 2015 - 08:33 UTC

  Almagro pledges an end to OAS fragmentation and a hemisphere without exclusions

  

  Uruguay's former Foreign minister Luis Almagro was elected on Wednesday by the member states of the Organization of American States (OAS) as Secretary General for the next five years, during the XLIX Special General Assembly held at the OAS headquarters in Washington DC.

• Thursday, March 19th 2015 - 08:27 UTC

  Belize representative elected OAS Assistant Secretary General

  

  The General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) elected on Wednesday the Permanent Representative of Belize, Ambassador Nestor Mendez, as the next Assistant Secretary General of the hemispheric institution.

• Thursday, March 19th 2015 - 08:07 UTC

  Conservationists praise UK for creating largest marine reserve around Pitcairn islands

  

  Leading conservation groups, scientists and residents of Pitcairn Island congratulated the UK Government on its decision to create the world’s largest marine reserve around the Pitcairn Islands, a UK Overseas Territory in the South Pacific.

• Thursday, March 19th 2015 - 08:01 UTC

  Argentina asks Citigroup how it will react to Judge Griesa' decision

  

  Argentine Economy Minister Axel Kicillof has revealed the government sent a letter to Citigroup asking how the bank will react, after New York district judge Thomas Griesa decided not to kill an injunction that blocked Citi from processing interest payments on 2.3 billion dollars of Argentina bonds, under Argentine law.

• Thursday, March 19th 2015 - 07:55 UTC

  Fed no longer 'patient' about rates, but drops April and targets June

  

  The U.S. Federal Reserve says it can no longer remain “patient” about changing rates, an indication that interest rate hikes could begin this spring. But in a news conference, Fed chair Janet Yellen said the central bank has not settled on the timing of the rate hike.

• Thursday, March 19th 2015 - 07:42 UTC

  Brazilian opposition insists Supreme Court must investigate Rousseff

  

  Brazil's opposition has announced that it will ask the Supreme Federal Court to investigate President Dilma Rousseff for the Petrobras corruption scandal in which her party's treasurer Joao Vacari is also implicated.

• Thursday, March 19th 2015 - 07:32 UTC

  Rousseff unveils anti corruption measures, but her approval has fallen to 13%

  

  Brazil's Dilma Rousseff tried to get ahead of the storm of scandal bearing down on her presidency on Wednesday, unveiling a raft of anti-corruption measures she hopes will appease her critics.