Politics

• Thursday, April 23rd 2015 - 09:42 UTC

  Swedish passport tops the list of most powerful in the world

  

  Having a Swedish passport in your pocket when you go abroad is more beneficial than having travel identification from any other country in the world, according to a new study. European travel firm GoEuro looked into issues such as how easy it is to get a passport, which countries it offers access to without a visa, its price and how long it is valid for.

• Thursday, April 23rd 2015 - 09:34 UTC

  Vatican confirms Pope visit to Cuba on his trip to United States

  

  Leaders of Cuba's Catholic Church expressed joy Wednesday on learning that Pope Francis will visit the island in September amid the budding Vatican-mediated rapprochement between Havana and Washington. Francis will stop in Cuba before his Sept. 23 meeting in the United States with President Barack Obama.

• Thursday, April 23rd 2015 - 08:54 UTC

  Griesa rules hedge funds entitled to details of recent Argentine bond offering and banks must comply

  

  U.S. judge on Wednesday ruled that hedge funds suing over unpaid debt stemming from Argentina's 2002 default are entitled to details of a recent bond offering by Buenos Aires.

• Thursday, April 23rd 2015 - 08:45 UTC

  Brasil's third biggest builder contracting drastically after Petrobras scandal and bankrupcy

  

  Brazilian engineering conglomerate Grupo OAS expects revenue to shrink more than 50% by 2017 as it sells operations and refocuses on civil construction after filing for bankruptcy protection due to a bribery scandal at a state-run oil company.

• Thursday, April 23rd 2015 - 07:09 UTC

  Petrobras reveals extent of its losses because of corruption and mismanagement

  

  Brazil's state-run oil giant Petrobras which has been bashed by a wide-spread corruption scandal, reported on Wednesday a 2014 net loss of 21.6 billion Reais (7.2 billion dollars) after taking 50.8 billion Reais in charges.

• Thursday, April 23rd 2015 - 04:50 UTC

  Cristina Fernandez invites Russian investors to Argentina; Thursday she meets Putin

  

  “Argentina is a country where it is worth investing in and producing, not only because of its natural resources, also because of the human resources we have” said president Cristina Fernández in Moscow on an official visit to Russia. She praised the “recovery of Argentina's flag carrier that allows connectivity among all the zones in the country, not only the richest ones.”

• Thursday, April 23rd 2015 - 02:00 UTC

  “We have yet to change our ways” says Ban Ki-moon UN on Mother Earth Day

  

  Humanity is well aware of the devastating damage and pollution it have wrought on planet Earth, and “even with this knowledge, we have yet to change our ways,” United Nations Secretary-General said on Wednesday, urging people to reset their relationship with nature and every living being it sustains.

• Wednesday, April 22nd 2015 - 06:35 UTC

  Petrobras receives financial support from China and local banks

  

  Brazilian state-run oil company Petrobras approved a series of financial agreements with local and international banks that will meet its financing needs in 2015, the company announced. In a filing with local stock regulators, Petrobras said that the deals will provide the company with access to about 6.2 billion dollars, including a 3.5bn financing contract reached with China Development Bank on April 1.

• Wednesday, April 22nd 2015 - 06:25 UTC

  Nisman's successor calls prosecutor who dismissed the case “a grave digger”

  

  Argentine prosecutor German Moldes has blasted the decision of colleague Javier de Luca to dismiss in the Court of Cassation (Appeals) the cover-up accusation filed by late AMIA lead investigator Alberto Nisman, accusing the official of trying to bury the investigation against President Cristina Fernandez.

• Wednesday, April 22nd 2015 - 06:03 UTC

  Understanding the drivers of prosperity in Latin America and the Caribbean

  

  A new World Bank Group report, “Shared Prosperity and Poverty Eradication in Latin America and the Caribbean”, explores the performance of eight countries to understand what has driven progress, and what it will take to sustain it.