Politics

• Monday, June 18th 2012 - 07:06 UTC

  France defies Germany proposes 120bn Euros “pact for growth” to EU leaders

  

  French President Francois Hollande has proposed a 120 billion Euro “growth pact” ahead of key talks with Euro zone leaders, newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche reported on Sunday.

• Monday, June 18th 2012 - 05:10 UTC

  France deposits full confidence in Hollande and his promised growth-strategy

  

  France's Socialists won control of parliament on Sunday, handing President Francois Hollande the convincing majority he needs to push through his tax-and-spend agenda to battle the Euro zone debt crisis.

• Monday, June 18th 2012 - 03:24 UTC

  Brussels willing to soften austerity measures for the Greek pro-bail out government

  

  European governments signaled a willingness to relent on Greece’s austerity measures as leaders turn from an election victory by Greek bailout proponents to focus on safeguarding the other 98% of the Euro economy

• Monday, June 18th 2012 - 03:18 UTC

  Frozen fuel prices make it difficult for Petrobras to engage in ambitious development program

  

  Brazil's state-led oil company Petrobras is likely to struggle to find the cash to pay the recently announced world's largest corporate investment program. The country needs money to pay hundreds of ships and dozens of oil fields, drill-rigs and platforms it wants in order to catapult Brazil into the ranks of the world's top-four oil producers by 2020.

• Monday, June 18th 2012 - 03:12 UTC

  “An agreement over the Falklands is a matter of time”, says world affairs analyst

  

  Analyst of the Investigation Conflicts Unit at The Hague, Ivan Briscoe said that some kind of agreement involving the Argentine claim of sovereignty of the Falkland/Malvinas Islands is only a matter of time.

• Monday, June 18th 2012 - 02:24 UTC

  Ban Ki-moon good offices on Falklands issue if “both parties are willing to engage”

  

  United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reiterated his good offices to help resolve the Falklands/Malvinas sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the UK, but also pointed out “as long as the parties are willing to engage”.

• Monday, June 18th 2012 - 01:12 UTC

  European crisis could reduce Latin America’s growth prospects by 40%

  

  An aggravation of the European crisis could reduce growth prospects in Latin America up to 40%, said the Inter American Development bank president Luis Alberto Moreno, particularly because of the influence of European financial institutions in the influx of capital to the region.

• Monday, June 18th 2012 - 00:12 UTC

  Cameron will personally present Falklands message to Kirchner

  

  By Graham Bound, London - Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez will get her wish on Monday or Tuesday, when she meets Prime Minister David Cameron in the fringes of the G20 meeting in Mexico to talk about the Falkland Islands.

• Saturday, June 16th 2012 - 05:57 UTC

  Chilean Lower House votes unanimously to end “copper law” that finances the military

  

  Chilean Defence Minister Andrés Allamand achieved this week a unanimous vote in the Chamber of Deputies for the proposal to change the funding system for the Armed Forces. The proposal, should it gain approval in the Senate, would put an end to the so-called “copper law,” which has been in effect since 1958.

• Saturday, June 16th 2012 - 05:55 UTC

  Chile’s leaves basic rate unchanged at 5%; annual inflation in May, 3.1%

  

  Chile’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 5% for a fifth consecutive month as inflation in the world’s top copper producer eased and unemployment continued to decline.