Two men were arrested on Friday on suspicion of murdering a civil servant and seriously injuring a lawmaker in Argentina, in a brazen crime in broad daylight. Marcelo Yadon was shot five times at close range as he walked in a square in front of the National Congress at 7 am on Thursday with his childhood friend and lawmaker Hector Olivares, who was in a critical condition and underwent emergency surgery.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and his economy minister tried to rescue their contentious pension reform bill on Wednesday, as deepening political chaos surrounding the government’s signature proposal slammed Brazilian markets.
Brazil’s Economy Ministry warned that the economy will slip into recession next year and official interest rates could more than double unless Congress approves measures to reduce the deficit in the country’s pension system.
Chile’s LATAM Airlines Group SA has asked Brazil’s antitrust regulator Cade to boost its voting stake in LATAM Airlines Brazil to 51%, formalizing a controlling interest in Brazil’s No. 2 airline that for years it was unable to achieve because of local restrictions.
Senator Bernie Sanders launched his second bid for the White House on Tuesday taking direct aim at Donald Trump in an announcement that called the incumbent a racist and a pathological liar. Sanders, 77, joins an already crowded field of candidates vying for the Democratic nomination to run against Trump in 2020.
Sixteen US states sued President Donald Trump's administration on Monday over his decision to declare a national emergency to fund a wall on the southern border with Mexico, saying the move violated the constitution. The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in California, said the president's order was contrary to the Presentment Clause that outlines legislative procedures and the Appropriations Clause, which defines Congress as the final arbiter of public funds.
President Donald Trump on Friday declared a national emergency in a bid to fund his promised wall at the U.S.-Mexico border without congressional approval, an action Democrats vowed to challenge as a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
The Brazilian Senate elected a pro-government lawmaker as their chief, potentially boosting President Jair Bolsonaro’s reform agenda but also leaving the administration’s strength in the upper house in question. Bolsonaro congratulated Davi Alcolumbre, saying his challenge is to act on Brazilian voters’ desire for change.
Brazil’s lower house of Congress reelected on Friday by a vast majority Rodrigo Maia, from the Democratas party, for a new two-year term as president of the chamber. Maia had the support of Brazil’s newly elected President Jair Bolsonaro and has pledged to work with the new administration to pass key reforms seen as crucial for the country to balance its budget, such as the pension reform.
The real business of governing Brazil starts this Friday for president Jair Messias Bolsonaro with the opening of the new congress through which his ambitious reform program must pass. The former army captain is currently absent from Brasilia will have to follow events from his hospital bed in São Paulo, where he is recovering from a third major operation following his stabbing at a campaign rally last year that almost cost him his life.