Politics

• Monday, December 7th 2009 - 23:44 UTC

  Brazilian inflation and interest rates forecasted to increase in 2010

  

  The Brazilian economy is forecasted to expand 0.21% in 2009 according to a Central Bank poll among financial experts and which is published weekly in the Focus Bulletin. In the previous edition the growth estimate was 0.20%.

• Monday, December 7th 2009 - 12:29 UTC

  A two-day busy Mercosur summit begins Monday in Montevideo

  

  Uruguay is hosting as of Monday the Mercosur bi-annual presidential summit which will have as top issue of the agenda trade differences among its members, particularly Argentina and Brazil, and on the sidelines contacts of Uruguay’s president-elect Jose Mujica with leaders from Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay

• Monday, December 7th 2009 - 11:22 UTC

  Landslide victory and Senate majority for Evo Morales in Bolivia

  

  Bolivian president Evo Morales won by a landslide majority in Sunday’s general elections and according to exit polls has ensured the Senate two thirds majority needed to continue with his reforms program some of them considered controversial.

• Monday, December 7th 2009 - 11:20 UTC

  Opposition does not discard impeachment of President Cristina Kirchner

  

  A leader of the Argentine opposition does not discard the possibility of impeaching President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner for alleged acts of corruption.

• Monday, December 7th 2009 - 11:06 UTC

  Olympic City Rio do Janeiro boasts world’s largest floating Xmas tree

  

  The lights are blazing from the world's largest floating Christmas tree -- a gigantic 85-metre high metal structure set on a lagoon in Rio de Janeiro, the city that will host the 2016 Olympic Games.

• Monday, December 7th 2009 - 10:57 UTC

  Falklands’ HMS Sheffield commander died December 3

  

  Rear-Admiral Sam Salt, who died on December 3 aged 69, commanded the first British warship to be sunk by enemy action after the Second World War

• Monday, December 7th 2009 - 10:48 UTC

  Brazil purchase of Russian air defence systems could curtail US sale of aircraft

  

  The possible purchase of Russian anti-aircraft batteries for the Brazilian Army could influence Brazilian negotiations for the acquisition of US manufactured fighter planes, reports the Sunday edition of Correio Braziliense.

• Monday, December 7th 2009 - 10:45 UTC

  Brazil prepared to extend political asylum to Zelaya

  

  The Brazilian government is considering extending political asylum to Honduran ousted president Manuel Zelaya who remains holed in at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa since last September according to reports in the Sunday press.

• Monday, December 7th 2009 - 10:36 UTC

  Malvinas, the European Union and Latinamerica

  

  Bad news for Argentina: the Malvinas issue that until now was a bilateral conflict between Argentina and the United Kingdom has been transferred to the sphere of the large regional groups, at supra-national scale, from the moment that the Islands are considered as an “associate territory” of the European Union, points out the Buenos Aires daily Clarin.

• Saturday, December 5th 2009 - 11:44 UTC

  Argentine opposition takes over control of the Lower House

  

  An unexpected alliance of all opposition forces in the Argentine Lower House (144 out of 257) defeated this week President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s congressional block on the crucial vote of authorities and committees for the incoming congress which officially begins December 10.