Politics

• Tuesday, April 26th 2011 - 01:49 UTC

  Rousseff admits she is “immensely worried” with inflation

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said on Monday she is “immensely worried” about inflation near the top of the official target range and that the government will act to keep prices from rising further.

• Monday, April 25th 2011 - 07:54 UTC

  Rousseff further intervenes in Brazil’s leading corporation

  

  Vale, the world’s largest iron-ore producer, named Brazil’s Deputy Finance Minister Nelson Barbosa, (a close ally of President Dilma Rousseff) as a member of the board after announcing earlier this month the replacement of its chief executive officer.

• Monday, April 25th 2011 - 07:51 UTC

  G20 to address commodity prices “volatility” in special meeting in Argentina

  

  G-20 Economy ministers will be meeting May 18/19 in Argentina to address commodity prices’ variations, according to Argentine sources. The meeting was agreed during the recent IMF/World Bank spring assemblies in Washington, following on Argentina’s deep concern about the “volatility” of commodity prices.

• Monday, April 25th 2011 - 07:45 UTC

  Pro business Peru, Colombia, Chile and Mexico to sign Pacific Agreement

  

  Peruvian president Alan Garcia will be hosting this week his peers from Colombia, Chile and Mexico to subscribe the so-called Pacific (Ocean) Agreement with the purpose of integrating the four countries economies.

• Monday, April 25th 2011 - 07:16 UTC

  Former British PM Brown advisor to the World Economic Forum

  

  Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been appointed as an unpaid advisor to the World Economic Forum. He is to be the chairman of a new policy and initiatives co-ordination board.

• Monday, April 25th 2011 - 07:09 UTC

  An Italian, ‘Super Mario’, the leading candidate to replace Trichet at ECB

  

  France considers Bank of Italy Governor Mario Draghi the leading candidate to succeed Jean-Claude Trichet at the helm of the European Central Bank. However the key decision maker, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, has yet to tip her hand. Merkel’s aides have indicated that Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, no longer insists on a German to succeed Trichet.

• Monday, April 25th 2011 - 06:59 UTC

  Chavez, with eyes on his 2012 re-election bid, hikes oil windfall tax

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hiked an oil windfall tax in a move that raises government income ahead of the 2012 presidential election, but puts a heavy load on oil companies.

• Monday, April 25th 2011 - 06:28 UTC

  Mexico antitrust commission slaps 1 billion USD fine on mobile phone operator

  

  Mexico's antitrust commission confirmed Sunday that it has fined the country's biggest mobile phone operator over 1 billion US dollars on grounds that it used its market weight and interconnection fees to displace competitors.

• Monday, April 25th 2011 - 06:14 UTC

  More protests in Syria in spite of the security forces ‘shoot to kill’ policy

  

  Security forces have reportedly shot dead at least three people and injured others in north-west Syria, days after the worst bloodshed since unrest began. Police and soldiers opened fire from rooftops in the coastal town of Jabla, though no protest was being held at the time, witnesses said.

• Sunday, April 24th 2011 - 01:30 UTC

  Venezuela formally exits Andean nations and waits for Mercosur incorporation

  

  Venezuela formally exited the Andean Community of Nations, CAN, Friday when it stopped belonging to the free trade zone which for 38 years eliminated a full range of tariffs among its members (Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Colombia), announced the Venezuelan Foreign Affairs ministry.