Occupy Wall Street protesters gathered outside banks, meditated in public parks and staged anti-corporate song-and-dance routines on Tuesday in a May Day bid around the United States to revive a movement that triggered nationwide protests last year against economic injustice.
Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday said US monetary policy was more or less in the right place even though the central bank would not hesitate to launch another round of bond purchases if the economy were to weaken.
The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday repeated its promise to leave interest rates on hold until at least late 2014 but offered few clues into whether it might offer additional stimulus later this year.
Brazilian Defence Minister Celso Amorim and his visiting US peer Leon Panetta considered an increase in cooperation in many different areas including cyber-security, science and military technology and humanitarian assistance during a bilateral meeting held in Brasilia.
The first US case of mad cow disease in six years has been found in a dairy cow in central California, before it entered the human food chain and posed any threat to consumers, officials said.
The US government considers Argentine is obliged to submit its economic statistics to be validated by the IMF, and Washington will support all efforts from the multilateral organization so that the objective can be achieved.
The US government finally broke silence regarding the YPF controversy and expressed “deep concern’ over the expropriation plans. A State Department spokesman said on Wednesday the plans “could have an adverse effect on the Argentine economy.”
The US-Colombia free trade agreement will enter into force next month, far earlier than expected, as a result of what the Obama administration called historic progress for Colombian worker protections and human rights.
Do friendly countries make contingency plans for landing Marines in the big cities of other friendly countries? Even if it’s only to be done in a worthy cause—like supporting a military takeover of a democratically-elected government? During the recent trip to Washington of Brazilian President Dilma Roussief there was a public effort by both sides to “accent the positive” but perhaps there should have been some hard questions behind closed doors.
Brazil ranks as the fourth largest source of overseas visitors to the United States with 1.5 million visits in 2011, which represents a 26% increase from 2010 said the State Department in a release. With these figures on the table “the Department of State is taking action to expand the already extensive ties between our nations”.