Thousands of Brazilians took to the streets on Sunday to demand a tough stance against corruption and celebrate the recent sentencing of influential politicians who were involved in money scandals during the first government of President Lula da Silva.
The United Nations resident coordinator called on the Paraguayan government to investigate and clarify the killings of Curuguaty last June, which triggered the removal of then President Fernando Lugo and his replacement by Federico Franco.
The head of the Argentine-Jewish Community Centre (AMIA), Guillermo Borger, warned the government of President Cristina Fernandez that the organization’s members are concerned by the lack of information regarding ongoing negotiations with Iran over the 1994 terrorist attack on the AMIA headquarters, which killed 85 people.
The Brazilian air force, awaiting the outcome of the selection process for purchasing 36 fighter jets, is leaning toward the F-18 Super Hornet of the US, which is competing against the French Dassault Rafale and the Swedish Gripen, Istoe magazine said.
The former jet-setting premier of the British Overseas Territory Turks and Caicos Islands has been arrested in Brazil after disappearing a few years ago. Michael Misick was detained last Friday at the Santos Dumont Airport in Rio de Janeiro, governor spokesman Neil Smith said.
Standard Chartered will pay more than 300 million dollars to settle charges it violated US sanctions on Iran, Burma, Libya and Sudan. The UK-based bank has been fined 100m by the Federal Reserve and the Department of Justice seized assets worth 227m, the regulators said.
Foreign Office Minister Baroness Warsi launched on Monday 10 December, UN Human Rights Day, UK’s campaign for re-election to the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) for January 2014-December 2016.
Former Economy minister Roberto Lavagna said that it will take Argentina “at least three years” to liberate the country from the ‘dollar clamp’ if as of this month it was decided to execute a policy to end restrictions on the purchase of foreign currency.
With Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in Cuba for his fourth cancer surgery in two years and after naming Vice President and Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro as his successor if anything were to go wrong, the Constitution of the country contemplates several options, including new elections.
Argentine nationalized oil company YPF is in advanced discussions with potential partners on the development of its shale assets, the company's chief executive said. YPF could complete a deal with Bridas Energy Holdings Ltd. before the end of the year, while an agreement with US oil major Chevron Corp. will likely close in the first quarter of 2013, he said, adding that the deals would likely be similar in size.