Politics

• Thursday, February 16th 2017 - 10:43 UTC

  Thirty tons of Venezuelan currency are seized in Paraguay; smuggled from Brazil

  

  Central Bank employees will count about 30 tons of Venezuelan currency seized in a private house in Paraguay, while officials try to figure out why the vast quantity of 50- and 100-bolivar bills was brought into the country. The cash was discovered in Salto del Guaira, a city about 370 kilometers northeast of the capital of Asuncion, on the border with Brazil in a region known for the contraband trade.

• Thursday, February 16th 2017 - 10:13 UTC

  Red Cross completes Phase 1 of mission to identify Argentine soldiers in Darwin cemetery

  

  Laurent Corbaz of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said on leaving the Falklands that Phase 1 of the mission to identify Argentine soldiers buried at the Darwin Cemetery had taken place during the week spent in the Islands with his team mate Patrick Sherry.

• Wednesday, February 15th 2017 - 09:44 UTC

  Comodoro/Falklands air link awarded by Argentina to Neuquen airline

  

  Argentina's Air Transport Advisory Agency has approved the flights' program of an airline from the Patagonia province of Neuquén which includes an air link between Comodoro Rivadavia and the Falkland/Malvinas Islands, reports this week the local Neuquen media.

• Wednesday, February 15th 2017 - 09:34 UTC

  Brazilian Judge reinstates top ally of President Temer to a ministerial post

  

  A Brazilian judge reinstated the nomination of a top ally of President Michel Temer to a ministerial post, but ruled he could not receive the legal protections other high-ranking politicians enjoy.

• Wednesday, February 15th 2017 - 09:24 UTC

  Argentina's ex intelligence chief indicted; prosecution requests his arrest

  

  Prosecutors have requested the arrest of Argentina's intelligence chief under former president Cristina Fernandez over murky accusations he shielded a fugitive drug trafficker from arrest. The request came a day after ex-spy chief Oscar Parrilli was indicted on charges of hiding information on the whereabouts of the man who was formerly Argentina's most-wanted fugitive.

• Wednesday, February 15th 2017 - 09:18 UTC

  Argentine prosecution accuses President Macri of conflicts of interest

  

  An Argentine prosecutor on Tuesday demanded a judicial investigation into alleged financial conflicts of interest by the country's President Mauricio Macri and family. Macri is accused of a conflict of interest in overseeing a deal as president to settle debts incurred by the postal service in a period when it was controlled by his father's business. His government has denied any wrongdoing.

• Wednesday, February 15th 2017 - 09:12 UTC

  Brazilian currency at its strongest against the US dollar since July 2015

  

  The Brazilian real gained on Tuesday to its strongest level in more than a year and a half, following a rise in capital inflows and after the central bank resumed currency intervention following a two-week pause. The real firmed 0.45% to 3.096 real per dollar, its strongest showing since July 2015.

• Tuesday, February 14th 2017 - 11:02 UTC

  Brazilian media banned from publishing a report on an extortion attempt suffered by the First Lady

  

  A Brazilian judge censored articles in two respected and influential newspapers, Folha de Sao Paulo and O'Globo, which reported on an extortion attempt suffered by the First Lady Marcela Temer last year. Both newspapers anticipated they will be appealing the ruling.

• Tuesday, February 14th 2017 - 10:50 UTC

  Temer refuses to lose another advisor whose nomination was barred by a judge

  

  Brazilian President Michel Temer on Monday denied suggestions that he is trying to protect a minister implicated in a corruption scandal. Temer is under fire in the media and judiciary for controversially naming his close adviser Wellington Moreira Franco to a cabinet-level position.

• Tuesday, February 14th 2017 - 10:34 UTC

  Former Goldman Sachs executive and “foreclosure expert”, confirmed as US Treasury Secretary

  

  A bitterly divided Senate on Monday confirmed Steven Mnuchin as United States treasury secretary despite strong objections by Democrats that the former banker ran a “foreclosure machine” when he headed OneWest Bank. Republicans said Mnuchin's long tenure in finance makes him qualified to run the department, which will play a major role in developing economic policy under President Donald Trump.