Colombia was upgraded last week to investment grade by rating agency Standard and Poor’s. Following the upgrade, the Colombian peso rose to its highest point in two weeks and stocks rose to their highest in two years, Bloomberg reported. Standard and Poor’s upgraded the country due to “a ‘favorable’ growth outlook and ‘resilient’ economy.” Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings still rates Colombia one level below investment grade, although...
Today, the U.S. Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control announced that three of its members, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D- R.I.), were urging Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner “to immediately propose and finalize a rule to make prepaid access, including stored value cards, subject to cross-border reporting requirements,” as written in a...
After a long delay, the Department of State released the Foreign Military Training Report (FMTR) for 2009. The report is a joint report by the Department of Defense and the Department of State and is due by March 1 of every year. The report covering 2010, therefore, is recently overdue.
Volume I of the FMTR is very useful to our project. We use the information presented in these reports to track the total number of United States training recipients in the region via different assistance programs. The report also...
- UNASUR, the Union of South American Nations, was formally launched today at a meeting of Foreign Affairs ministers in Quito, Ecuador. Before the group could become effective, the charter requested that nine members subscribe to the treaty. Of UNASUR's members, Brazil and Paraguay still have to comply with the approval of treaty. Next on the agenda for UNASUR is to agree on a new Secretary General, a post which has been vacant since the death of Nestor ...
- ABASOLO: At least 18 people died in a shootout between rival gangs the Zetas and the Gulf cartel in the town of Abasolo in Tamaulipas state Monday morning.
- ACAPULCO: Three government offices were set on fire in the resort city of Acapulco Monday night by unknown assailants, damaging documents and computer equipment. The offices belong to the health ...