Tax the rich and better target the multinationals: The IMF has set off shock waves in Washington by suggesting countries fight budget deficits by raising taxes. Tucked inside a report on public debt, the new tack was mostly eclipsed by worries about the US budget crisis, but did not escape the notice of experts and nongovernmental organizations.
Eugene F. Fama, Robert J. Shiller and Lars Peter Hansen shared the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for at times conflicting research on how financial markets work and assets such as stocks are priced. The three economists, all Americans, “laid the foundation for the current understanding of asset prices,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said in Stockholm.
The conclusion of a trade and cooperation agreement between the European Union and Mercosur ‘only depends on the bloc’ said the European Commission Vice-President for Industry and Entrepreneurship Antonio Tajani.
Uruguay’s Director of Culture, Hugo Achugar accused Argentina of violating Mercosur cultural accords from the moment it is demanding work visas for Uruguayan artists performing in Argentina.
Bolivian president Evo Morales claimed that the Pacific Alliance (Colombia, Chile, Peru and Mexico) is part of a major conspiration plotted “from the north” and directed to divide the Union of South American Nations, Unasur.
Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff said it was ‘absurd’ that in the context of Mercosur the free circulation of goods was non existent and expressed disappointment with Argentina’s obstacles, but nevertheless insisted dialogue was the only valid instrument to overcome trade differences.
Argentine President Cristina Fernández, 60, was discharged Sunday midday from the Buenos Aires Favaloro Foundation hospital where she underwent successful surgery on a ‘subdural chronic haematoma’ after being given the all-clear from doctors.
The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, has warned that a US default could tip the world into recession. In a US TV interview she said a default would result in massive disruption the world over.
The Colombian government and left-wing FARC rebels ended a 15th round of peace negotiations on Sunday trading accusations over responsibility for the slow pace of the talks and for the first time failing to issue a joint statement on their progress.
The Roman Catholic Church in Spain has beatified 522 people, most of them priests and nuns killed by Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. Thousands of people attended the outdoor event in Tarragona, presided over by a senior Vatican cardinal.