Politics

• Friday, December 20th 2013 - 06:41 UTC

  Brazil expects to begin exporting matured beef to the US in first half of 2014

  

  Brasilia and Washington have taken the latest technical steps to open the US market to Brazilian beef, which if all runs smoothly together with a 60 to 90 days public consultation period could see the first shipments in the second quarter of next year. Currently because of sanitary barriers linked to Foot and Mouth Disease, FMD, Brazil can only export industrialized beef to the US.

• Friday, December 20th 2013 - 06:35 UTC

  After fifty years Cubans can now buy and sell cars, but for most non affordable

  

  Cubans will be able to buy new and second-hand cars from state-run retailers without a permit under new rules approved by President Raul Castro's government. The measure, announced Thursday by the official media, is another step in Castro's plan to “modernize” the island's socialist economy and lift decades-old market restrictions.

• Friday, December 20th 2013 - 06:28 UTC

  US planning a new trade agreement with Latam, but through NAFTA

  

  The President Barack Obama administration is “exploring” a regional trade plan for the Americas that would be the most ambitious hemispheric initiative in years, but contrary to the failed experience of George Bush's FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas), this time it would be instrumented through Nafta (North American Free Trade Agreement) partners Mexico and Canada, according to a Miami Herald interview of Andres Oppenheimer with Secretary of State John Kerry.

• Friday, December 20th 2013 - 06:11 UTC

  Brazil denies EU charges of protectionism and discriminating tax measures

  

  Brazil on Thursday strenuously denied European Union charges it engages in protectionism and said it would show its trade programs conform to WTO rules. The EU took Brazil to the World Trade Organization Thursday, complaining it was using taxes to discriminate against imports and illegally help its exporters

• Friday, December 20th 2013 - 06:09 UTC

  Venezuela considering increase in gasoline prices, world's cheapest: 2 cents a liter

  

  President Nicolas Maduro said he was contemplating a three-year period to raise domestic fuel prices; a sensitive issue for Venezuela where a similar move helped spark deadly 1989 riots.

• Friday, December 20th 2013 - 06:00 UTC

  Gibraltar Chief Minister hosts and lobbies MPs and Lords in London

  

  Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, hosted a very well attended dinner for Members of the House of Commons on Tuesday evening at Gibraltar House in London, according to a report from the Gibraltar Chronicle. The event saw over 30 Members of Parliament attend from the All Party British Gibraltar Group.

• Friday, December 20th 2013 - 05:57 UTC

  Argentina files complaint with WTO against EU duties on bio-diesel

  

  Argentina has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization against the European Union’s decision to impose anti-dumping duties on its biodiesel exports. The duties are “clearly protectionist” and will affect annual sales worth more than 1.5 billion, Argentina’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday on its website.

• Friday, December 20th 2013 - 05:49 UTC

  Argentina threatens to nationalize power companies because of the blackouts

  

  Argentina on Thursday threatened to nationalize utility companies Edenor and Edesur after power outages left large areas of the capital Buenos Aires and surrounding suburbs in the dark, just ahead of the austral summer. “If they are not willing to give people the service they deserve, we will be willing to take over that service,” said cabinet chief Jorge Capitanich.

• Thursday, December 19th 2013 - 06:25 UTC

  UK claims Argentina escalating Falklands dispute to divert public opinion from economic problems

  

  Britain accused the Argentine government on Tuesday of revving up a dispute over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands to try to divert public opinion attention away from the country's severe economic problems.

• Thursday, December 19th 2013 - 06:06 UTC

  Brazil surprises and hands Sweden Gripens the contract for 36 new fighters

  

  Sweden's Saab AB prevailed over U.S. giant Boeing and French manufacturer Dassault Aviation in a competition to supply the Brazilian air force with 36 aircraft to replace its aging Mirage 2000s, Brazil said Wednesday.