Politics

• Tuesday, April 21st 2015 - 01:16 UTC

  World Bank warns Latin America about permanent slowdown in the absence of structural reform

  

  In its latest semiannual report, “Latin America Treads a Narrow Path to Growth: The Slowdown and its Macroeconomic Challenges,” the World Bank´s Office of the Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean forecasts a fourth year of slow growth for the region.

• Monday, April 20th 2015 - 23:59 UTC

  China makes effective 5bn dollars loan to Venezuela for 'development plans'

  

  China has awarded Venezuela 5 billion dollars for unspecified “development plans,” President Nicolas Maduro said on Sunday, approximately three months after an official visit to China. According to published reports, the loan is part of a 10 billion deal to be completed in the following months.

• Monday, April 20th 2015 - 23:41 UTC

  Uruguay insists with the EU trade accord, even leaving Mercosur aside

  

  Uruguay's president Tabare Vazquez announced that when he meets with Brazil's Dilma Rousseff next month, they will consider as a priority how to get the Mercosur-European Union talks for a trade agreement rolling again.

• Monday, April 20th 2015 - 23:12 UTC

  Rajoy admits the Rato case impacts on his party's support ahead of elections

  

  Voters in Spain's Valencia region, a bastion of conservatism for two decades, are likely to desert Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's party in droves in May's regional election, a poll published on Sunday found, in a taste of nationwide politics to come.

• Monday, April 20th 2015 - 07:05 UTC

  Cristina Fernandez leaves for Russia in the midst of energy controversy

  

  Argentine president Cristina Fernandez is leaving this week for an official visit to Russia and controversy over the agreements to be signed has erupted following the publication of a letter in a Sunday newspaper signed by a group of former Energy secretaries who claim the accords compromise Argentina with a foreign country in the execution of highly costly works, like it was done with China”.

• Monday, April 20th 2015 - 06:51 UTC

  Brazil tells IMF it's working with Congress to restore fiscal balance and structural change

  

  Brazil is working with Congress on a broad agenda of structural changes to improve the business climate, increase productivity and set price signals correctly to stimulate investment, announced Finance minister Joaquim Levy in his speech to the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) this weekend.

• Monday, April 20th 2015 - 06:42 UTC

  Brazilian leading contractor admits paying 36m dollars in bribes to Petrobras officials

  

  A vice president of construction company Camargo Correa told Brazilian prosecutors that he paid 36 million dollars in bribes to officials of state-controlled oil company Petrobras, the press reported, citing a document prepared by prosecutors.

• Monday, April 20th 2015 - 06:20 UTC

  March inflation in Argentina ranges from 1.3% to 2.12%

  

  Argentine inflation in March reached 2.12% over February accumulating 29.8% in the last twelve months according to the average of private consultants, which every month is released by opposition members in Congress. This is one percentage point higher than the official March rate announced by the Argentine government's discredited stats office, Indec, 1.3%.

• Saturday, April 18th 2015 - 10:32 UTC

  Making the Falklands safe: clearing mines from the 1982 conflict

  

  Falkland Islands former minefields that have been cleared by BACTEC International’s (*) deminers are, “cleared to a higher quality than the areas that are outside the fences,” assured Project Manager Julius Unsing, speaking to Penguin News this week.

• Saturday, April 18th 2015 - 09:20 UTC

  Argentina again threatens Falklands' oil companies with legal actions, this time in London

  

  Argentina's Secretary of State for Malvinas Affairs, Daniel Filmus, defended Argentina´s sovereignty rights over the Falkland Islands in a speech he delivered in London condemning UK´s recent decision to increase its military presence in the South Atlantic, outlined the scope of the criminal lawsuit against oil companies 'illegally' operating in Falklands/Malvinas waters and warned of the environmental risks these activities entail.