Politics

• Thursday, August 18th 2011 - 23:53 UTC

  Zara accused of accepting Brazilian suppliers with slave-labor work conditions

  

  Spain high-street retailer Zara has been accused of allegedly accepting slave-labor working conditions supplanted by more than 30 of its outsourced plants running in Brazil.

• Thursday, August 18th 2011 - 22:51 UTC

  Rousseff names new Agriculture minister and respects balance in cabinet

  

  Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff named on Thursday lawmaker Mendes Ribeiro as new Minister of Agriculture. The member of Congress from the farming state of Rio Grande do Sul replaces Wagner Rossi who stepped down Wednesday following strong allegations of corruption and irregularities.

• Thursday, August 18th 2011 - 07:06 UTC

  Colombia/Canada launch FTA promoting agro-trade and mining investment

  

  The Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement which took effect on Monday August 15 is Canada's fourth bilateral trade deal with a Latin American country and eliminates tariffs on a range of goods and services in an effort to facilitate trade and investment.

• Thursday, August 18th 2011 - 06:50 UTC

  Falklands’ resumes support for containerized international freight services

  

  The Falkland Islands government and the local fishing industry have promised support for the maintenance of the containerised international freight services, which is expected to resume activities in the coming months.

• Thursday, August 18th 2011 - 06:37 UTC

  Cristina Fernandez “must have done something right” to have 50% support

  

  Buenos Aires City Mayor Mauricio Macri’s campaign advisor Jaime Durán Barba considered that President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner “must have done something right” to get so many votes in last Sunday’s primary elections, and assured that the Alfonsín-De Narváez alliance “is the one that lost most votes.”

• Thursday, August 18th 2011 - 06:26 UTC

  FIFA is “like an old boys’ network” claims Transparency International

  

  FIFA should limit terms for senior officials, set up an independent group to clear up anti-corruption allegations and “embrace transparency,” corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) said.

• Thursday, August 18th 2011 - 03:00 UTC

  CFK message to business leaders: cut imports, boost supply, State assures demand

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, CFK, demanded a “cultural change” from business and corporate leaders so as to bring down imports and increase the supply of goods and services, as well as doubling investments, while the State ‘stimulates demand’.

• Thursday, August 18th 2011 - 02:54 UTC

  Brazilian Agriculture minister steps down following corruption allegations

  

  Brazilian Agriculture minister Wagener Rossi resigned to his post Wednesday following revelations of irregularities in his office thus becoming the fourth minister to step down, in eight months, of President Dilma Rousseff administration.

• Wednesday, August 17th 2011 - 23:36 UTC

  IMF chief Lagarde on trial for complicity of embezzlement in France

  

  French magistrates formally opened an investigation into IMF chief Christine Lagarde this week for possible misconduct in approving a huge payment to a friend of President Nicolas Sarkozy when she was Finance minister.

• Wednesday, August 17th 2011 - 23:15 UTC

  Venezuela: biggest oil reserves, but also record corruption and mismanagement

  

  Venezuela received an enviable honour last month: OPEC said it is sitting on the biggest reserves of crude oil in the world – even more than Saudi Arabia. But the Venezuelan oil industry is also sitting atop a well of trouble.