U.S. duels China for Latin America influence
The region shows it is fast becoming an attractive global trading partner
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping are visiting Latin America this week. Biden's tour, which started on May 26, included a discussion with 15 Caribbean leaders, and talks with Colombia about extending the benefits of the free trade agreement. Xi Jinping will visit Mexico, Costa Rica and Trinidad, Bloomberg reports.
Survey shows Mexican security situation improves for companies
Forty-two percent of 531 respondents say matters have improved
Most foreign and domestic companies in Mexico say security has either improved or remained unchanged from last year, a poll conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce shows. The Chamber said it is mainly the result of the action taken by federal authorities and the companies themselves, Reuters reports.
Argentina's decade of division
Ten years of the Kirchners' turbulent rule
Argentinian president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner celebrated the ten-year anniversary of her late husband Néstor Kirchner's presidential inauguration. "Like it or not, this is a victorious decade for the people," she declared. But her opponents describe the decade as "lost, wasted and trampled", The Economist reports.
Online currency exchange service accused of laundering $6 billion
Case is believed to be largest online money-laundering case in history
Liberty Reserve, a global currency exchange service, ran a $6 billion money-laundering operation online, a central hub for criminals trafficking in everything from stolen identities to child pornography, federal prosecutors in New York said. The charges said that the service allowed people to move sums around the world with virtual anonymity, The New York Times reports.
Brazil investments have a long, potholed road ahead, says analysis
Economists skeptical of strong rebound in investments for the rest of 2013
Investment in Brazil grew at the fastest pace in three years in the first quarter. But as much as two-thirds of the rise may have come from the construction of heavy trucks. It highlights one of the country's great weaknesses: paltry investments in rail and waterways are forcing goods onto a crumbling patchwork of highways. Reuters reports.
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