Politics

• Thursday, September 1st 2016 - 10:29 UTC

  Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia freeze relations with Brazil in support of Rousseff

  

  Venezuela on Wednesday withdrew its ambassador from Brazil and froze ties in response to president Dilma Rousseff's removal from office.

• Thursday, September 1st 2016 - 10:10 UTC

  Pope declines request to help select judges for Colombia's peace tribunal

  

  The Vatican announced Wednesday that, although Pope Francis is pleased about a peace deal between the government of Colombia and the country’s guerrillas, he has declined a request to have a Vatican envoy help select judges for a new peace tribunal.

• Thursday, September 1st 2016 - 10:02 UTC

  Brazil central bank keeps rates unchanged for the ninth straight time

  

  Brazil's central bank kept interest rates at a decade high for the ninth straight time on Wednesday, but did not discard a cut rate later this year if stubbornly high inflation subsides. In a unanimous vote, the bank's monetary policy committee, Copom, kept its benchmark Selic rate at 14.25%, its highest since July 2006.

• Thursday, September 1st 2016 - 07:35 UTC

  Guantanamo Bay inmate is back in Uruguay following his arrest in Venezuela

  

  A former Guantanamo Bay inmate who was resettled in Uruguay and then arrested in Venezuela after going missing has been sent back to Uruguay, officials announced in Montevideo. Syrian Jihad Diyab, 45, who was resettled in Uruguay as a refugee in 2014 -- was jailed at the headquarters of the Venezuelan secret police after going off the radar in Uruguay then traveling to Venezuela, apparently evading border control.

• Thursday, September 1st 2016 - 07:21 UTC

  Temer promises “new era” and warns he will not tolerate divisions in the ruling coalition

  

  Brazil's new president, Michel Temer, promised a “new era” of government for the crisis-hit country Wednesday, shortly after being sworn in following the impeachment of his predecessor, Dilma Rousseff. Earlier, the Brazilian senate voted 61-20 to remove Rousseff from office for breaking federal budget laws.

• Wednesday, August 31st 2016 - 20:29 UTC

  Brazil's political system confirms President Temer, removes 'outsider' Rousseff

  

  The Brazilian Senate on Wednesday midday impeached suspended president Dilma Rousseff, and removed her from office for the rest of her term, ending a power struggle that has consumed the nation for months but has not solved any of its mounting problems, rather the contrary. Vice-president and interim president Michel Temer will formally replace the first woman president of the country.

• Wednesday, August 31st 2016 - 13:54 UTC

  China expects G20 summit confirms its world standing, but admits vulnerable flanks

  

  China is hoping to cement its standing as a global power when it hosts leaders from the world's biggest economies this weekend, but suspects the West and its allies will try to deny Beijing what it sees as its rightful place on the international stage. Ensuring that this does not happen will be one of President Xi Jinping's priorities, and a key mark of how successful China will judge the G20 summit to be.

• Wednesday, August 31st 2016 - 12:34 UTC

  Macri at G20 to represent the “new” Argentina and after crucial investments

  

  Argentine president Mauricio Macri is off to Hangzhou, China for this first G20 summit where he is expected to hold bilateral talks with the host Xi Jinping, Russia's Vladimir Putin, Germany's Merkel and probably UK prime minister Theresa May.

• Wednesday, August 31st 2016 - 05:03 UTC

  Norway's Statoil and Petrobras expand strategic alliance and cooperation

  

  Norways' StatOil and Petrobras have signed a memo of understanding to strengthen their cooperation in Brazil. The two major companies are are already partners in 13 blocks and the intention of the MoU is to evaluate joint participation in future tenders for exploration areas and to increase upstream collaboration in producing fields in the Santos and Campos offshore basins.

• Wednesday, August 31st 2016 - 04:56 UTC

  Brazil's unemployment reaches 11.6% with an estimated 11.8 million jobless

  

  Brazil's unemployment rate rose to 11.6% in the three months through July the statistics agency IBGE said on Tuesday. Brazil's jobless rate has risen sharply from 6.5% at the end of 2014 as the country entered its worst recession in decades.