Politics

• Saturday, August 17th 2019 - 07:00 UTC

  Trump reveals “productive” trade talks with Beijing and anticipates a “fairly short war”

  

  US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that U.S. and Chinese negotiators were holding “productive” trade talks and expected them to meet in September despite U.S. tariffs on over US$125 billion worth of Chinese imports taking effect Sept 1.

• Saturday, August 17th 2019 - 06:47 UTC

  Bolsonaro administration has privatized some US$ 20bn of assets

  

  Brazil has privatized nearly US$ 20bn of assets and investments since the election of right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro, according to a government minister. Secretary of state for privatization, divestment and markets Salim Mattar announced that the government’s sweeping program of privatization was going as planned.

• Saturday, August 17th 2019 - 01:57 UTC

  Testimony of torture centre survivor in Brazil could help crush 1979 amnesty law shielding military officials

  

  Details provided by the sole survivor of a torture centre in Brazil could lead to the imprisonment of a man accused of raping her during her captivity. The accused has so far been shielded by a 1979 amnesty law which prevents military officials from being prosecuted for crimes committed under military rule.

• Friday, August 16th 2019 - 12:55 UTC

  Brazil's central bank will sell dollars in the spot currency market; first time in a decade

  

  Brazil’s central bank announced it would sell dollars outright in the spot currency market this month for the first time in over a decade, changing its regular market operations in response to rising demand for liquidity.

• Friday, August 16th 2019 - 08:04 UTC

  Gibraltar releases Iranian super tanker hours before a US Justice detention request

  

  The Gibraltar Government on Thursday released the Iranian supertanker Grace 1, which was seized on July 4 on suspicion it was shipping 2.1m barrels of crude oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions.

• Friday, August 16th 2019 - 07:53 UTC

  Dollar volatility in Argentina eases in line with political dialogue

  

  Argentine markets bucked the dismal three-day losing streak on Thursday, amid signs of political compromise and a new central bank measure to prop up the embattled currency.

• Friday, August 16th 2019 - 07:35 UTC

  Argentina: Macri announces the end of sales taxes on basic food products until 2020

  

  Argentine President Mauricio Macri, trying to recover from a bruising primary election loss, announced on Thursday an end to sales taxes on basic food products until the end of the year in a bid to salvage his re-election prospects and end an economic crisis.

• Friday, August 16th 2019 - 07:26 UTC

  Norway suspends funding to curb Amazon deforestation in Brazil

  

  Norway has suspended funding that was supporting measures to curb deforestation in Brazil after the country blocked the operations of a fund receiving the aid, the Norwegian ministry of climate and environment said on Thursday.

• Friday, August 16th 2019 - 07:21 UTC

  “If Cristina Kirchner gets in and closes the economy,” Brazil will leave Mercosur

  

  Brazil will pull out of the Mercosur trade bloc if the opposition party wins Argentina’s presidential elections later this year and closes the economy with protectionist policies, Brazil’s Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said on Thursday.

• Friday, August 16th 2019 - 07:11 UTC

  Brazil: Book with 188 blank pages dedicated to Bolsonaro, “should be respected and trusted”

  

  A 190-page book on why Brazil's conservative president Jair Bolsonaro “should be respected and trusted” has gone viral on social media after it emerged 188 of its pages are blank. The author said it was a “protest” to force people to “come up with their own answers” on the controversial leader.