Politics

• Friday, January 15th 2010 - 06:37 UTC

  Judge Griesa lifts freeze on Argentine funds to help with planned “debt swap”

  

  A New York State Judge lifted a freeze on Argentine Central Bank accounts held in the US Federal Reserve, Argentina's Finance secretary told reporters on Thursday. The freeze has been imposed on request from investors holding defaulted Argentine sovereign bonds.

• Friday, January 15th 2010 - 06:21 UTC

  World’s largest tanker, built in China, ready to start maiden voyage

  

  Claimed to be the most sophisticated large tanker ever designed and built by a Chinese shipyard, the ‘Xin Pu Yang' is to start its maiden voyage from Guangzhou to the Middle East later this month, Chinese media reports said.

• Friday, January 15th 2010 - 06:11 UTC

  Chavez cancels energy rationing in Caracas; sacks electricity minister

  

  Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez cancelled energy rationing in Caracas after a chaotic first day of staggered blackouts angered his supporters, but the measures will continue across the country.

• Friday, January 15th 2010 - 06:09 UTC

  Obama to slap 117 billion USD levy on banks to repay for bail outs

  

  President Barack Obama has said Wall Street must repay 117 billion US dollars to taxpayers and criticised banks for “massive profits and obscene bonuses”. The tax is to recoup money US taxpayers are expected to lose from bailing out the banks during the financial crisis.

• Friday, January 15th 2010 - 05:28 UTC

  Euro-zone countries “need bold measures to improve confidence”

  

  The European Central Bank left interest rates on hold at their historic low of 1% at its first meeting for the year Thursday amid concerns about Greece's debt crisis.

• Thursday, January 14th 2010 - 12:16 UTC

  Haiti with no relief for thousands of injured and buried in the rubble

  

  Haitian President Rene Preval has said thousands of people are feared dead following a huge quake which has devastated the country's capital. Mr Preval said the UN mission chief in Haiti was among the dead. It said at least 14 other UN staff had died and 56 were injured.

• Thursday, January 14th 2010 - 12:00 UTC

  Brazil elected to board of directors of Bank for International Settlements

  

  Brazil’s Central bank president Henrique Meirelles was elected to the board of directors of the Bank for International Settlements, a further sign of the country's increasing clout in the world economy.

• Thursday, January 14th 2010 - 04:53 UTC

  Mrs. Kirchner resuscitates ghosts from the 2001/02 default crisis

  

  Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on Wednesday again attacked the opposition and called for “reflection” from all those sectors involved in the dispute over Central Bank reserves to avoid repeating the “errors of the past”.

• Thursday, January 14th 2010 - 04:51 UTC

  Chilean maverick candidate will vote to impede Piñera becoming president

  

  With only four days left for the Chilean presidential election run-off next Sunday the former independent hopeful Marco Enriquez-Ominami, MEO, publicly announced his support for incumbent candidate Eduardo Frei, although not mentioning his name once.

• Thursday, January 14th 2010 - 02:57 UTC

  Piñera leads with a slight margin in Chile’s presidential run-off next Sunday

  

  Chilean opposition conservative candidate Sebastián Piñera is poised to win, albeit by a slight margin, on next Sunday’s (Jan. 17) presidential run-off with the incumbent candidate former president Eduardo Frei, according to the latest public opinion poll released Wednesday in Santiago.