Politics

• Saturday, July 20th 2013 - 06:11 UTC

  Argentina’s economic activity picks up 7.8% in May and 4.1% in first five months

  

  Argentina's economic activity jumped 7.8% in May from a year earlier, according to the country’s questioned stats office, Indec. President Cristina Fernandez had anticipated the news earlier in the week in a televised speech.

• Saturday, July 20th 2013 - 06:03 UTC

  Argentina/hedge funds dispute: US will not file ‘uninvited’ brief to Supreme Court

  

  The Barack Obama administration won’t file a brief next week urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Argentina’s appeal in a clash with implications for tens of billions of dollars in defaulted debt, according to a Justice Department spokesman.

• Saturday, July 20th 2013 - 05:57 UTC

  Brazil the seventh most violent country; in 30 years homicides soared 132%, says Map of Violence

  

  More than one million people were murdered in Brazil between 1980 and 2011, making it the world’s seventh-most violent country, according to the Map of Violence survey. In that period the homicides soared 132% to claim 1,145,208 lives, from a rate of 11.5 murders for 100,000 inhabitants in 1980 to 27 per 100,000 in 2011.

• Saturday, July 20th 2013 - 05:46 UTC

  Money exchange controls limit Argentines from travelling to Brazil to greet Pope Francis

  

  Despite the pope is Argentine and on Monday he will be making his first pastoral trip overseas to Brazil, Argentine government strict currency controls are making it difficult for prospective pilgrims to travel. An estimated 60.000 Argentines are expected to travel to Rio do Janeiro for the grand event.

• Saturday, July 20th 2013 - 05:42 UTC

  Operation clean up to reform scandal–plagued Vatican administration

  

  Pope Francis, moving to overcome major crises in the Holy See, set up a special commission to reform its economic and administrative departments, the Vatican said on Friday.

• Saturday, July 20th 2013 - 05:35 UTC

  Fitch maintains Brazil’s debt outlook ‘stable’ and minister says the report was ‘fair’

  

  Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said that Fitch's decision to maintain the country’s debt outlook at stable was “fair” given Brazil robust finances and lesser debt burden.

• Saturday, July 20th 2013 - 05:31 UTC

  Brazil Catholic church losing ground to Protestants and Pentecostals

  

  Brazil's Catholic population has declined since 2000 while its Protestant population has grown during the past two decades, a Pew survey fund.

• Saturday, July 20th 2013 - 05:27 UTC

  Bolivia’s Morales apologizes to for 2011 incident when a Brazilian Defence ministry aircraft was searched

  

  Bolivia's President Evo Morales apologized to Brazil Friday for a 2011 incident in which authorities searched a Brazilian military aircraft for drugs. Brazil lodged an official complaint several days ago as Morales was demanding apologies from European countries for blocking his flight home from Moscow earlier this month.

• Saturday, July 20th 2013 - 05:22 UTC

  All four EU countries involved in the Morales plane incident have officially apologized

  

  Italy and Portugal have officially apologized for involvement in illegally re-routing the plane carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales earlier this month during a flight home from Moscow. On 3 July a number Western European countries closed their airspace to the presidential aircraft on a false suspicion that leaker of US electronic spying Edward Snowden was onboard, forcing the plane to land in Vienna.

• Friday, July 19th 2013 - 06:34 UTC

  Kirchnerite candidates in four main districts ahead of mid term election trail behind

  

  The latest round of public opinion polls for the coming mid term elections next October in Argentina don’t fare well for President Cristina Fernandez particularly in the country’s four main electoral circumscriptions, Buenos Aires province, Buenos Aires City, Santa Fe and Cordoba.