Politics

• Thursday, March 17th 2011 - 18:14 UTC

  Argentine Congress confirms Mercosur/Israel free trade agreement

  

  The Argentine congress ratified this week the free trade agreement between Mercosur and Israel. The accord subscribed in 2007 and already passed by the Senate, was approved in the Lower House by 144 votes, 8 nays and 10 abstentions.

• Thursday, March 17th 2011 - 18:10 UTC

  Mercosur 20th birthday celebration reprogrammed because of Brazil’s absence

  

  The program of events to celebrate the 20 years of the Treaty of Asunción, the founding block of Mercosur (26 March 1991) will have to be rescheduled because Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff won’t be travelling to Paraguay next 26 March.

• Thursday, March 17th 2011 - 18:04 UTC

  China will finance and build 20.000 housing units in Venezuela

  

  Venezuela signed an agreement with Chinese companies Citic Group and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. to negotiate a 4 billion US dollars loan to finance oil and construction projects, President Hugo Chavez said in Caracas.

• Thursday, March 17th 2011 - 17:59 UTC

  Chavez’ new enemy: plastic surgeons pressing women to have breast implants

  

  Venezuela's populist president has identified a new plague on his nation - boob jobs. Hugo Chavez, famous for his bombastic anti-US rants, blasted plastic surgeons for pressuring women into having surgery they can't afford.

• Thursday, March 17th 2011 - 17:46 UTC

  In spite of release of dissidents, Cuba continues ‘to stifle freedom of expression’

  

  The Cuban authorities are continuing to stifle freedom of expression on the island in spite of the much-publicized recent wave of releases of prominent dissidents, Amnesty International warned ahead of the eighth anniversary of a crackdown on activists.

• Thursday, March 17th 2011 - 17:41 UTC

  Brazil real estate boom: 9.1m middle class families plan to buy in next 12 months

  

  A total of 9.1 million families plan to buy real estate in Brazil over the next 12 months which is a huge increase since the Minha Casa Minha Vida (My House, My Life) program was introduced in 2009

• Thursday, March 17th 2011 - 17:27 UTC

  Argentina and Uruguay advance relations in a full ministerial meeting

  

  Argentina and Uruguay signed this week several agreements with the aim of improving bilateral trade, improving rivers’ navigation, social policies and other issues, within the Second Bi-national Meeting of Ministers in the framework of a relation described as ‘strategic’.

• Thursday, March 17th 2011 - 15:34 UTC

  Brazil tightens land acquisition by foreigners: ‘speculators and sovereign funds’

  

  The Brazilian government is tightening a law that restricts the amount of land foreigners can buy. The decree prohibits non-Brazilians from buying controlling shares of companies that own vast tracts of territory in the country, Brazilian Attorney General Luiz Inacio Adams said in a statement this week.

• Thursday, March 17th 2011 - 15:27 UTC

  Brazilian industry creates a Chinese Studies Centre to monitor bilateral trade

  

  Brazil’s powerful Federation of Industries of Sao Paulo State (Fiesp) is set to create a Chinese Studies Centre in partnership with the federal government, the president of the federation said in Sao Paulo.

• Thursday, March 17th 2011 - 15:12 UTC

  Falkland Islands next stop for HMS York after relief work in Libya

  

  HMS York is back in the Atlantic heading for the Falkland Islands after her headline-making trip to Libya.
  The Type 42 destroyer was en-route to take up a five-month patrol in the south Atlantic when she was diverted to join the international relief effort and help foreign citizens and Britons leave the country.