Politics

• Friday, May 18th 2012 - 09:24 UTC

  Chile leaves basic rate unchanged at 5% for the fourth month running

  

  Chile’s central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at 5% for a fourth consecutive month as surging domestic demand and deterioration in the global economy leave little scope to change monetary policy.

• Friday, May 18th 2012 - 09:09 UTC

  Argentine president in Angola to promote trade and exchange food for oil

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernández is on a three-day visit to Angola to promote trade and investments particularly exchanging food for the African country’s oil. Friday morning she is scheduled to meet her counterpart Jose Eduardo Dos Santos.

• Friday, May 18th 2012 - 09:05 UTC

  Argentina has a Jewish president for two days, Beatriz Rojkes

  

  For the first time, Argentina has a Jewish president, at least temporarily. Beatriz Rojkes, the provisional president of the Argentine Senate, is in charge of the government for several days because both President Christina Fernandez and Vice-President Amado Boudou are overseas.

• Friday, May 18th 2012 - 04:12 UTC

  YPF second shareholder misses 400 million dollars payment to creditor banks

  

  Argentina's Petersen Group missed a 400 million dollars payment to creditor banks on Wednesday, which could allow them to seize the shares of oil company YPF backing the loan.

• Friday, May 18th 2012 - 04:10 UTC

  Brazil’s Supreme Court confirms university quota system for Afro-descendents

  

  Brazil’s Supreme Court voted unanimously to permit a quota system that would favour Afro-descendants in entering universities, ending an eight-year legal battle.

• Friday, May 18th 2012 - 03:58 UTC

  Brazil passes bill to challenge embedded culture of secrecy and bureaucracy

  

  A freedom of information law has taken effect in Brazil, challenging an embedded culture of secrecy and bureaucracy. Proponents, including President Dilma Rousseff, said the measure is nothing short of a revolution for a system that has kept tight control over information for decades.

• Friday, May 18th 2012 - 03:01 UTC

  Argentine farmers blitz stops lawmakers vote on land tax increase

  

  A last-minute lobbying blitz by farmers in Argentina's top grains-producing province stopped lawmakers from approving a tax increase that some growers said would force them to sell their fields.

• Thursday, May 17th 2012 - 21:24 UTC

  Spain supports EU/Mercosur trade accord on a “region to region” basis respecting WTO rules

  

  Spain’s Foreign Affairs minister Jose Garcia Margallo said that Madrid supports negotiations for a free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union on a “region to region” basis, back stepping from his proposal last April to exclude Argentina following the seizure of YPF from Repsol.

• Thursday, May 17th 2012 - 21:19 UTC

  Tax-info-exchange accord could see middle-class Argentines abandon Uruguayan banks

  

  The recent tax-info exchange agreement reached between Argentina and Uruguay will make many investors in the Uruguayan financial system take their deposits back to “safes” or “mattresses” in Argentina, warned several economists during a conference on the Argentine economy prospects and its influence on neighbouring Uruguay.

• Thursday, May 17th 2012 - 11:52 UTC

  Argentine provinces face less revenue and higher rates because of YPF seizure

  

  Argentine provinces are falling back in paying salaries and honouring debts as they face a shortage of cash and almost record rates for issuing bonds in money markets, reports Buenos Aires financial press.