Politics

• Tuesday, February 16th 2010 - 02:17 UTC

  Eurostat orders Greece to disclose details of currency swaps

  

  European Union regulators ordered Greece to disclose details of currency swaps after an inquiry by the country’s Finance Ministry uncovered a series of agreements with banks that it may have used to conceal mounting debts.

• Tuesday, February 16th 2010 - 02:12 UTC

  Pro-growth, pro-jobs, European Central bank next vice-president

  

  Euro-zone finance ministers meeting Monday in Brussels nominated Portugal’s Vitor Manuel Ribeiro Constancio to become the next vice president of the European Central Bank, improving the chances of Germany’s Axel Weber to take the top job next year.

• Tuesday, February 16th 2010 - 02:10 UTC

  Think tank praises UK for not having joined the Euro

  

  Britain's unemployment rate would be twice as high and the recession would have been even deeper if we had joined the euro, a think tank has claimed.

• Tuesday, February 16th 2010 - 02:04 UTC

  Euro zone ministers insist Greece must consolidate public finances

  

  Greece could unveil more cost-cutting proposals if its current efforts do not work fast enough, the head of the 16-nation Euro-zone has said. Jean-Claude Juncker said Greece had agreed to outline additional measures in March if necessary.
  His comments came following a meeting of Euro-zone finance ministers.

• Monday, February 15th 2010 - 21:11 UTC

  Brazilian presidential hopefuls join Carnival celebrations

  

  Brazilian presidential hopefuls took to the streets to join the country’s Carnival celebrations considered an excellent opportunity to have their names and faces known.

• Monday, February 15th 2010 - 20:21 UTC

  Mrs. Kirchner willing to discuss with opposition about central bank reserves

  

  The administration of Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said it is willing to discuss with the opposition the Bicentennial Fund project which aims to service public debt with reserves from the Central Bank and which triggered a three branches confrontation that ended in the resignation of the bank’s president Martin Perez Redrado.

• Monday, February 15th 2010 - 20:15 UTC

  Chilean registered marriages almost identical to number of divorces

  

  Marriage numbers have fallen 50% in Chile during the past 20 years, according to data made public last week by the Civil Statistical Registry.

• Monday, February 15th 2010 - 20:13 UTC

  FOGL/BHP Billiton sign deal to drill several wells in East Falklands basin

  

  Falkland Oil and Gas, FOGL announced Monday it signed a deal will Desire Petroleum to use the “Ocean Guardian” rig to drill the first ever exploration well in the East Falklands Basin on the Toroa prospect, which is expected to happen during the first half of 2010.

• Monday, February 15th 2010 - 06:38 UTC

  Chile announce ambitious Antarctica Strategic Plan

  

  Chile’s Public Works Ministry announced the launching of five new projects in Antarctica.

• Monday, February 15th 2010 - 06:19 UTC

  Argentine government lacks Senate support to tap Central bank reserves

  

  Argentina’s government lacks the support needed in the Senate to approve President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s plan to tap 6.6 billion US dollars in Central Bank reserves to pay sovereign debt due this year, ruling party Senator Miguel Pichetto admitted on Sunday.