Daily Headlines: July 14, 2014

* Colombia: Colombian James Rodriguez became the third South American player since 1978 to win the Golden Boot Award as top scorer at the World Cup.

* Argentina: Visiting Russian president Vladimir Putin backed Argentina’s claim to the Falklands and also signed a nuclear energy cooperation pact with his counterpart, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
 
* Peru: Peruvian officials claimed that their country could double their copper production by 2016 and surpass China as the world’s second-largest producer of the metal.

* Brazil: The BRICS group of developing countries that includes Brazil will reportedly launch its own development bank that could curb the influence of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Video Source – Richard Swarbrick via YouTube
 
Online Sources – USA TODAY; euronews; The West Australian; mining.com

Daily Headlines: September 19, 2013

* Uruguay: A report from the Uruguayan Institute of Economy found that “there is no improvement in the academic results of the students” who participated in the country’s “One Child One Laptop” program.

* Brazil: While diplomatic relations between Brazil and the U.S. have been weakened due to allegations of spying, Brazil’s Finance Minister praised the Federal Reserve's decision to leave the economic stimulus unchanged.

* Venezuela: Chinese state oil company Sinopec and its Venezuelan counterpart, PDVSA, agreed to cooperate on a $14 billion development project in the Orinoco Belt.

* Puerto Rico: According to new government data, the commonwealth’s overall deficit hit a record $39 billion in the past fiscal year.

Video Source – YouTube via NTDTV (Video uploaded in 2009).
 
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist; MercoPress; GlobalPost; Washington Post; Reuters

Daily Headlines: February 17, 2012

* Honduras: Honduran and international human rights groups alleged that the government’s crackdown on gang violence led to overcrowded prisons including the one where over 350 people died in a fire.

* Latin America: According to a new study China has issued $75 billion in loans to Latin America since 2005; thus, topping financing from the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and U.S. Export-Import Bank.

* Brazil: Officials in Rio de Janeiro state reportedly plan to give away over three million condoms during Carnival festivities that begin this week.

* U.S.: A Pew Research Center analysis concluded that Latinos have helped boost the rise in interracial marriages to a record 4.8 million unions.

Video Source – YouTube via Al Jazeera English (The prison in Comayagua, Honduras where a major fire took place this week housed over 800 inmates, more than double its original capacity.)

Online Sources- Fox News Latino, CNN, Americas Quarterly Blog, Bloomberg, The Latin Americanist

Peruvian stocks bounce back from post-election nosedive

Peru’s stock market recuperated in trading on Tuesday after plummeting on Monday in the wake of Ollanta Humala’s presidential election victory.

The main index for the Peruvian stock exchange rose today by 6.97% to close at 19,881.10 points. The market’s blue chip stocks also rose by 6.18% to end at over 27,000 points and the national currency, the sol, also appreciated in value during trading today.

The rebound came after a black day for the stock exchange when the stock market tanked with a record single-day drop of 12.5%. Investors appeared to be spooked by the possibility that a Humala presidency would halt Peru’s high economic growth. "There will be that suspicion until he proves he's more like (former Brazilian president Luis Ignacio) Lula (da Silva) than (Venezuelan president Hugo) Chavez," said economist Newton Rosa to Reuters.

“My commitment with the people is to maintain economic growth along with social inclusion,” said Humala this morning as he urged Peruvians to “be calm.” In order to try to calm investor fears he also released the names of twenty people who will serve on his presidential transition team. All of the figures are reportedly “political moderates” and include an ex-economy minister and the former chief of Peru’s central bank.

The sky-is-falling fears over the economy under Humala can best be read in this editorial piece from the Investor Business Daily’s website. For some financial analysts, however, such an apocalyptic outlook for Peru’s economy is exaggerative:

“Markets were quick to react over concerns that Humala will be a radical president, but there are reasons to expect some policy stability in the near term,“ said Bank of America Merrill Lynch in a note Tuesday…

Among the reasons to expect near-term stability is a “divided” Peruvian Congress, which would make it “difficult for Humala to institute any radical changes, at least initially,” wrote economist Alejandro Rivera and fixed-income strategist Alberto Boquin at B. of A. Merrill Lynch in a report…

Humala plans to maintain the 1% deficit while increasing revenues through mining taxes and increasing spending on social programs, the broker said. “Still, we believe the government has ample resources to fund additional spending given the 39 billion nuevos soles ($14 billion) in central-government deposits at the central bank.”

Image- Raul Sifuentes/Getty Images via The Guardian (“Ollanta Humala, winner of Sunday's narrow presidential poll in Peru, addresses supporters in Lima.”)
Online Sources- InfoBAE.com, Bloomberg, MiamiHerald.com, Reuters, Clarin.com, AFP, Investors.com, MarketWatch

World Watch: What’s in a name?

* World: The tilde, Greek characters, and other non-Latin languages could be coming soon to Internet domain names.

* Iran: Negotiations over the future of Iran’s nuclear program have hit a snag after Tehran rejected a proposal brokered by several Western countries.

* U.S.: President Barack Obama said that a 22-year-old travel ban barring people with HIV and AIDS from entering the U.S. will be removed in January.

* Europe: Stocks in Europe tumbled on Friday after several regional firms like Alcatel-Lucent and Siemens AG posted losses.

Image- Guardian UK (“A Chinese internet user. Soon '.com' will not have to be added in English to a Chinese web domain.”)
Online Sources- Bloomberg, BBC News, Wired.com, The Telegraph

LatAm economists, leaders differ over bailout

A controversial $700 million bailout was defeated by U.S. legislators on Monday, thus triggering a massive 777 point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Other stock indices in the Western Hemisphere also plummeted in trading today. The Morgan Stanley Capital International Latin American stocks index sunk to its lowest point in a decade with a 12.6% drop. Brazil's Ibovespa index nosedived by over 10% this afternoon before closing with a 9.5% loss. Meanwhile, Argentina’s Merval index plunged by 8.7% while Mexico’s main index tumbled by over 6%.

Regional financiers panicked over the lack of a bailout unlike Latin American leaders who have been upset at the plan from the get go. Presidents like Michelle Bachelet and Leonel Fernandez expressed resentment at their northern neighbor for advocating helping tycoons instead of the impoverished masses. As Fernandez mentioned yesterday at a forum with ex-Chilean president Ricardo Lagos:

In light of the current financial crisis, Lagos and Fernandez both questioned international economic institutions in relation to Latin America.

Lagos criticized the unregulated free markets as showing "arrogance," insisting instead that the market should focus on improving citizens' lives by alleviating poverty and bettering education and health care - a premise for which he received rousing applause.

Fernandez agreed. "Globalization needs rules," he said, pointing to the hyperinflation, debt and deficits that free-market policies caused in his country, which resulted in a distrust of democracy.

Image- SignOnSanDiego.com (“Traders work on the floor of the Brazilian Mercantile and Futures Exchange in Sao Paulo, Monday.”)

Sources- AFP, Reuters, BusinessWeek, IHT, Guardian UK, Brown Daily Herald

Daily Headlines: September 23, 2008

* Colombia: “I have no intention of doing politics in Colombia,” admitted former hostage Ingrid Betancourt (image) in an interview yesterday where she also said that her return to Colombia has been impeded by death threats.

* Mexico: Mexican stocks fell in trading yesterday due to worry over the planned $700 billion bailout plan in the U.S.

* Latin America: Trade within the Latin American region has grown “significantly” according to the Latin American Integration Association.

* Brazil: The official inquest into the murder of Jean Charles de Menezes by London police began with testimony over how officers mistakenly thought he was a terrorist plotter.

Image- Christian Science Monitor

Sources- Reuters, CNNMoney.com, Monsters & Critics, The News Journal, The Latin Americanist, BBC News

Daily Headlines: July 10, 2008

* Latin America: A historic colonial Cuban town and a Mexican butterfly reserve were two of the 27 sites added to the list of World Heritage Sites by the U.N.

* Brazil: The G-5 group of developing countries- which includes Brazil and Mexico- did not see eye-to-eye with their wealthier counterparts during this week’s Group of Eight (G8) summit.

* Chile: Authorities continue to seek the world’s most wanted Nazi fugitive – Aribert “Dr. Death” Heim- who may be hiding in Chile or Argentina.

* Bolivia: A “special edition” of Che Guevara’s journals with forewords written by Fidel Castro and Evo Morales will soon be issued by the Bolivian government.

Image- Sydney Morning Herald (“A migrating monarch butterfly”)

Sources- Monsters & Critics, MSNBC, World Heritage Center, BBC News,