
United States prosecutors charged eight former Siemens AG executives with paying 100 million dollars in bribes for more than a decade to Argentina officials to help win a one billion dollars contract to produce national identity cards.

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday made no changes to its interest rate policy but left the door open for further monetary easing next year depending on the impact of strains in the global financial markets (Europe’s debt problems).

Anti-Wall Street demonstrators, confronted by police in riot gear, marched on several West Coast ports on Monday seeking to disrupt cargo traffic and re-energize their protest movement.

The presidents of Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Mexico, Hugo Chávez, Juan Manuel Santos, Ollanta Humala, Rafael Correa and Felipe Calderón have cancelled their trips to Buenos Aires and won’t attend President Cristina Fernández inauguration ceremony on Saturday.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, facing the possibility of nationwide protests against his rule, on Thursday accused US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of instigating demonstrators in the wake of the disputed parliamentary election.

If the Nobel Society had an award for sustainability, it would resemble the Katerva Awards, a new international prize for the most promising ideas and efforts to advance the planet toward sustainability. (Reuters *)

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) announced on Wednesday the unanimous approval of a 400 million dollar credit to Argentina in order to improve the infrastructure of the country’s poor neighbourhoods.

US Delta Air Lines Inc. agreed to buy a 100 million dollar stake in Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA, Brazil's second-largest airline by market value, and begin booking passengers on each other's jets.

The US top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said President Barack Obama is missing opportunities to strike closer ties with Brazil, allowing China to steal market share from US companies in Latin America’s biggest economy.

The US unemployment rate fell to a two and half year low of 8.6% in November and companies stepped up hiring, further evidence the economic recovery was gaining momentum.