
United States Judge Thomas Griesa finally authorized Citibank Argentina to process interest payments of bonds issued under Argentine law, with a payment deadline on March 31 and on June 30, and to exit its custody business in Argentina.

Fifteen banks will join Petrobras next week, April 3, in a New York court to explain how they did nothing wrong when selling 98 billion dollars worth of the Brazilian state oil company’s bonds to American investors. Of the 15, lawyers representing the investment banking divisions of Itau and Bradesco will appear before New York judge Jed Rakoff in hopes to escape the scandal.

Russia has more claim to Crimea than Britain has to the Falkland Islands, a senior Russian lawmaker insisted Sunday as London again denounced Moscow's “illegal annexation” of the peninsula.

Argentina’s current account deficit widened 7.9% to 5.07 billion dollars in 2014 as Latin America’s third-biggest economy eked out meager 0.5% growth, official data showed. Exports fell 11.9% from 2013 to 71.94bn, hurt by low international prices for Argentine soy, wheat and corn as well as weakened demand in key trading partner Brazil, where economic growth is also stagnant.

Prosecutors who uncovered Brazil's biggest corruption case called for tougher prison sentences and more legal powers to crack down on rampant graft that costs taxpayers more than the annual budget for education and health.

A Brazilian museum received 139 works of art, including a painting by Joan Miro, seized from individuals involved in the corruption scandal rocking state oil giant Petrobras. Works by Brazilian artists Djanira and Heitor dos Prazeres were among the trove that police delivered to the Oscar Niemeyer Museum in the city of Curitiba.

Argentine customs officials seized cocaine worth more than one million dollars million from two crew members on a luxury cruise ship docked in Buenos Aires, authorities said. The suspects, both men, were identified only as a Croatian national and a Chilean traveling on an Australian passport.

President Cristina Fernandez warned on Friday that banks operating in Argentina must obey its laws, amid a row over Citibank's refusal to defy a US court order blocking Buenos Aires from repaying its restructured debt. At the end of the month, 31 March, Citibank as custodial has to pay Argentine restructured bonds.

Bolivia and the Organization of American States, OAS, signed an agreement for the deployment of an observation mission to regional elections on 29 March in the landlocked country.

A South African airline operator has been named the favorite to provide an air service for St Helena when its first airport opens early in 2016. But Comair, which also operates budget flights as kulula.com, will only offer flights to Johannesburg in South Africa, despite strong calls for a direct service to Europe.