Atlantico Weekly

Archive for the ‘Security’ Category

Cape Verde news update, October 18th

In Brazil, Cape Verde, Energy, Oil, Security on October 18, 2009 at 2:07 pm

OIL

Cape Verde would like to have Brazilian petroleum giant Petrobrás in the archipelago to carry out deep-water prospecting work, according to information provided to news agency Lusa by Cape Verdean Prime Minister José Maria Neves in Brasília (A Semana).

FREE PRESS

The administrative council of Cape Verdean Radio and Television (RTC), which runs Cape Verde’s state-owned national television and radio broadcasters, is not allowed to interfere in Cape Verdean National Television’s journalistic reporting. The affirmation is part of the response by RTC administrative council president Horácio Semedo to a letter from São Vicente mayor Isaura Gomes expressing outrage at the broadcaster’s coverage (A Semana).

LAW ENFORCEMENT

In November, the island of Maio will be the stage for a military exercise to be carried out by troops from the 3rd Military Region Command on the island of Santiago, the Coast Guard and the French Marine Corps. The exercise is aimed at preparing military personnel for disembarkation and patrol missions aimed at fighting drug trafficking (A Semana).

ENERGY

The government of Cape Verde has created a company to manage the four wind farms to be set up on the islands of Santiago, Sal, São Vicente and Boa Vista, Pan-African news agency Panapress reported (Macauhub).

Cape Verde news update, October 4th

In Cape Verde, Economy, Foreign Trade, Security on October 4, 2009 at 9:07 pm

TRADE

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton once again praised Cape Verde’s political and economic performance during the US-Africa Business Summit, which took place at the Washington D.C. Convention Center. The event was organized by the Corporate Council on Africa, a structure made up of various private companies that is aimed at promoting economic relations between the United States and Africa (A Semana).

CORRUPTION

Cape Verde is among the 50 best-scoring countries in the world, according to a list published by the NGO Transparency International. The archipelago comes in 47th place on the list, with 5.1 points on a scale of 0 to 10. A total of 180 countries are included on the list, which in 2007 ranked Cape Verde 49th (A Semana).

BUSINESS

The World bank’s annual report points to a slight growth in business conditions in Cape Verde. The archipelago rose one slot on the Doing Business 2010 ranking, and now occupies 146th position on a list of 183 countries (A Semana).

CRIME

The United States has pledged to assist the Cape Verdean government in the fight against drug trafficking in the West African region. The announcement was made by Cape Verde’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and Communities, José Brito, during the 2nd South America-African Summit, which was held on Margarita Island in Venezuela (A Semana).

Crime in South Africa won’t go away

In Security, South Africa on October 4, 2009 at 8:54 pm

President Jacob Zuma talks tough. But can he make a difference?

Read the story in The Economist

Cape Verde news update, September 13th

In Agriculture, Airports, Brazil, Cape Verde, Ports, Security, Tourism, Travel on September 13, 2009 at 1:21 pm

SECURITY

Cape Verde currently has more than 900 deportees, sent back to the archipelago by various different foreign countries. The United States tops the list of countries that have deported the most Cape Verdeans. According to Cape Verde’s Institute of Communities, “the number of Cape Verdeans deported to the country has increased in recent times (A Semana).”

PORTS

The Cape Verdean government will move forward with the privatization of the country’s port facilities in 2010, according to Portuguese newspaper Diário Económico (A Semana).

Cape Verde will be prepared to compete with any of the world’s ports in 2012, when a huge investment plan across several islands is concluded, the chairman of port management company Enapor told Portuguese news agency Lusa (Macauhub).

AGRICULTURE

Cape Verde will participate next week in the 16th International Agriculture and Agribusiness Fair in Fortaleza, the capital of the Brazilian state of Ceará. The Cape Verdean delegation is made up of a multi-disciplinary team of 65 members, 48 of them farmers (A Semana).

AIR TRAVEL

Low-cost airline Ryanair is studying the possibility of entering the Cape Verdean market. The Irish company opened its new northern Portugal headquarters in the city of Porto this week, and has already announced its plans to be a strong competitor of TAP Air Portugal in flight routes to Cape Verde (A Semana).

Brazil news update, September 7th

In Brazil, Economy, Elections, Energy, Investments, Oil, Politics, Security on September 7, 2009 at 8:09 pm

OIL

Brazil has no interest in joining the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) because it does not aspire to become a crude oil exporter, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said (Reuters).

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva rejected demands by congressional leaders to take his proposed legislation for more government control of oil production off a fast track, the ruling party chief in the Senate said (Reuters).

The pace of bidding rounds in Brazil’s offshore subsalt fields will depend heavily on local industry’s capacity to provide goods and services required by local content rules, state-run Petrobras said (Reuters).

BUSINESS

Pfizer, the world’s largest drug company, may pay up to 1 billion reais ($525 million) to buy Brazilian generic drugmaker Neo Quimica, stepping up smaller acquisitions in fast-growing emerging markets, newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo said (Reuters).

RIO 2016

The four bid cities competing to host the 2016 summer Olympics are locked in a tight race with no clear frontrunner emerging from the International Olympic Committee’s evaluation report released (Reuters).

Brazil’s resilience to the global financial crisis has boosted Rio de Janeiro’s bid to host the 2016 Olympics, the city’s mayor said (Reuters).

AMAZON

The annual rate of destruction of Brazil’s Amazon rain forest has fallen 46 percent to its lowest level in over two decades due partly to increased police patrols, Environment Minister Carlos Minc said (Reuters).

POLITICS

Brazil’s 2010 budget outline foresees a 12 percent increase in primary spending, the budget and planning ministry said, a day after the government presented its proposal to Congress (Reuters).

SECURITY

French President Sarkozy, on a two-day visit to Brazil, is lobbying the South American nation to become the first foreign buyer of Dassault Aviation SA’s Rafale fighter jet (Bloomberg).

ECONOMY

Brazil’s economy is making a “sound” recovery from the global financial slump as domestic demand for goods rises and access to credit returns, central bank President Meirelles said (Bloomberg).

Brazil news update, August 31st

In Banking, Brazil, Economy, Elections, Investments, Oil, Politics, Ports, Security on September 1, 2009 at 8:28 pm

BANKING & FINANCE

Brazil’s state development bank may allow at least five local and foreign banking groups to take part in the creation of a 7 billion reais ($3.7 billion) fund to bolster investment in small- and medium-sized enterprises, daily newspaper Valor Economico reported (Reuters).

Brazil may earn the much-coveted investment-grade rating by Moody’s Investors Service in coming weeks, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said (Reuters).

Banco de Brasil, Latin America’s largest bank by assets, plans to open new branches and may consider acquisitions to expand in the U.S. “Banco do Brasil is interested in being where Brazilian communities are,” the Brasilia-based bank’s vice president for international business, told reporters in Sao Paulo (Bloomberg).

MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

Grupo Pao de Acucar, Brazil’s largest supermarket operator, plans to use the 600 million reais ($318 million) it received to relax the terms of a consumer finance venture with lender Itau Unibanco  in acquisitions, Valor Economico said (Reuters).

The deal between Brazilian banking giant Itau Unibanco and insurance company Porto Seguro will pave the way for a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the domestic insurance market, a top industry executive told the daily Valor Economico (Reuters).

OIL

Brazil’s president proposed  giving the state more control over one of the world’s biggest recent oil finds in a high-stakes move that could drive the country’s development for decades to come (Reuters).

Lula’s plans for the development of the country’s offshore oil fields stripped Petrobras’ investors of $7 billion in a day (Bloomberg).

PORTS

DP World, the Dubai government-controlled port operator, said on Sunday it would acquire a majority stake in Embraport, a private Brazilian port in Santos, in partnership with Brazil’s Odebrecht (Reuters).

POLITICS

Brazil’s former environment minister Marina Silva took another big step toward an expected presidential bid by joining the Green Party, which wants to field her in the 2010 race (Reuters).

Brazilian President Lula da Silva plans to raise primary spending — expenditures before debt payments — by about 13 percent next year, earmarking more funds for health, education, defense and family stipends (Bloomberg).

STEEL

Vale, the world’s biggest iron ore miner, will build a $3.7 billion steel plant in Brazil’s northern state of Para after being criticized by the government for paring planned investments for this year, a Brazilian newspaper said (Reuters).

Angolan opportunities for SA aviation business

In Airports, Angola, Economy, Foreign Trade, Infrastructure, Politics, Security, South Africa, Travel on August 30, 2009 at 12:32 pm

President Jacob Zuma’s recent visit to Angola has gone a long way to smoothing the way for the businesses that formed part of his delegation, particularly in the aviation sector. For the aviation industry Angola is seen as a vital market but has until now been difficult to reach.

Read the report at BusinessDay

Russia, Cape Verde investigate Arctic Sea case

In Cape Verde, Security on August 22, 2009 at 10:31 am

Member’s of Russia’s Security Council came to Cape Verde in order to investigate the case of the Arctic Sea cargo ship, which went missing for some two weeks in the Atlantic Ocean. As soon as the Russian warship that rescued the Arctic Sea’s 15 crew members some 300 miles from Cape Verde earlier this week entered Palmeira sea port on the island of Sal, Russian Security Council agents and the Russian ambassador to Praia, Alexandre Karpuchin, questioned the ship’s crew and its eight suspected hijackers.

Read the full report at A Semana

Brazil news update, August 17th

In Banking, Brazil, Economy, Elections, Energy, Oil, Politics, Security, Telecom on August 17, 2009 at 6:28 pm

MEAT

Brazil’s top leather exporter and second-largest beef exporter, Bertin, said it has signed a pact with environmental campaigner Greenpeace to refuse purchases of cattle reared in recently-deforested parts of the Amazon (Reuters).

Cattle ranching has become the biggest environmental challenge for Brazil’s Mato Grosso state, which has launched a “cattle moratorium” to combat Amazon destruction, the state’s governor said (Reuters).

SECURITY

Colombia would like to increase its military ties with Brazil and other South American countries, President Alvaro Uribe said in the face of criticism over an pending security pact with Washington (Reuters).

OIL

Brazil’s overhaul of oil laws will not change the distribution of revenues among states, a cabinet minister said, a change of position that could ease passage of the measures in Congress (Reuters).

A Brazilian government proposal for exploiting recent deep-water oil discoveries calls for direct state control and is expected to give a key role to oil company Petrobras. The new plan follows the discovery off Brazil’s coast of giant pools of oil. They are among the largest petroleum finds in recent years, and could make Brazil into a significant energy exporter (Bloomberg).

ELECTIONS

Brazil’s central bank chief stoked speculation he may run for governor of Goias state next year when he joined President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at a ribbon-cutting event there (Reuters).

The expected ruling party candidate in Brazil’s 2010 presidential election has been drawn into a scandal by an accusation that she tried to stop a probe into the finances of the Senate chief’s family (Reuters).

BANKING

Banco do Brasil, Brazil’s largest state-run bank by assets, said early its second-quarter profit surged 43 percent on increased lending and after it sold a stake in credit card processing company VisaNet (Reuters).

ECONOMY

Brazil’s economy is showing signs of recovering in the second semester, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said (Reuters).

BUSINESS

PepsiCo Inc said it plans to buy Amacoco, Brazil’s largest maker of packaged coconut water drinks, as it expands its presence in South America’s largest nation (Reuters).

A rebound by the Brazilian auto industry this year has been so swift and so widespread that auto makers are now planning new hires and expanded output. That’s a stark contrast from much of the rest of the world, where the industry continues to retrench. Not long ago, Brazil’s auto makers were also cutting back production and eliminating jobs in the face of an uncertain fate for the economy and their sales (Bloomberg).

POWER

Eletrobras, Brazil’s state-controlled power utility, is negotiating the purchase of an electricity generation company in neighboring Peru, Chief Executive Jose Antonio Muniz Lopes said (Reuters).

TELECOMS

Brazil’s government may revive the former telecommunications industry monopoly, which was sold to private investors in the late 1990s, to provide the government with free access to the Internet, daily newspaper Valor Economico said (Reuters).

Angola news update, August 2nd

In Angola, Banking, Brazil, Foreign Trade, Hotels, Investments, Mining, Real estate, Security, Telecom, Tourism, Travel on August 2, 2009 at 11:52 am

INDUSTRIES

Angolan deputy Industry minister, Kiala Gabriel, affirmed Friday, in Luanda, that the sector is negotiating with several countries, above all Japan, to support the recovery of projects of some industrial units linked to textile sector (ANGOP).

PORTUGAL

The Banco de Fomento de Angola (BFA) and the Entrepreneurial Association of Portugal (AEP) on Thursday here signed a partnership agreement for the holding of four fairs in the coming two years, the CEO of the banking institution, Emídio Pinheiro, informed (ANGOP).

SPECIAL ZONE

The Angolan governmetn approved the creation of the Luanda-Bengo Special Economic Zone (ZEE). The meeting also formalised the Society of Development of the Luanda-Bengo EP Special Economic Zone, tasked with ZEE’s management and exploration. Luanda-Bengo ZEE is an economic space comprising land, economic and administrative infrastructures, designed to foment production and create jobs, with a view to the modernisation of the national economy (ANGOP).

DIAMONDS

Production of diamonds in Angola may reach in 2009, 7 million carats, as compared to 8.9 million of last year, said on Friday the director of planning and finance of the National Diamond Company (Endiama), Alberto Fancony (ANGOP).

REAL ESTATE

The city of Luanda hosted from July 30 to August 02 the first international fair on the real estate market, which was expected to be attended by 100 firms national and foreign firms (ANGOP).

HOTELS

A new four star-hotel named “Grande Hotel do Uíge” was inaugurated Saturday in northern Uige province’s capital city (Uige) by the minister of Hotels and Tourism, Pedro Mutinde (ANGOP).

GAS

Angola LNG Limited’s stakeholders, Sonangol Gás Natural, Cabinda Gulf Oil Company, BP Exploration (Angola), ENI Angola Production BV and Total LNG Angola announced the creation of two companies to support the project’s development (Macauhub).

TELECOMS

Mobile phone operator Movicel, S.A. has been 80 percent privatized. State-owned companies Angola Telecom and Correios Telégrafos de Angola continue to hold, respectively, 18 and 2 percent of Movicel’s capital stock.
The remaining 80 percent will be held by Porturil-Investiments with 40 percent, Modus Comicare- Comunicações e Imagem Lda with 19 percent, I pang – indústria de Papel e Derivados with 10 percent, Lambda Investement with six percent and Novatel, S.A., with five percent (Macauhub).

SOUTH ATLANTIC

The Angolan government is to provide Brazil with an additional US$500 million credit for Brazilian exports of goods and services to Angola. Angolan exports to Brazil, almost exclusively in petroleum, suffered a fall of 93.7 percent in the first half of this year, in relation to the same period in 2008. Sales to the Brazilian market fell from US$1.2 billion (873 million euros) in the first six months of last year to US$76.3 million (55 million euros) in the first six months of this year (Macauhub).

INVESTMENT

EDP is to set up a holding company with Sonangol Holdings, Banco Privado Atlântico and Finicapital with a view to investing in the production conventional and renewable electrical energy in Angola according to a statement by the Portuguese electricity company (Macauhub).


Cape Verde news update, August 2nd

In Agriculture, Airports, Cape Verde, Economy, Investments, Media, Politics, Ports, Security, Stock exchange, Tourism, Travel on August 2, 2009 at 11:32 am

CLINTON

Hillary Clinton will visit Cape Verde on August 13 and 14, with the main point on her agenda being the insertion of African women into the world market. Another issue to be discussed will be security in Sub-Saharan Africa (A Semana).

STATE OF THE NATION

The debate on the State of the Nation that took place in the National Assembly Wednesday, July 29, began with personal attacks between various different members of parliament and ended with asymmetrical readings on employment, health care, safety and Cape Verde’s macroeconomic indicators (A Semana).

STOCK EXCHANGE

The demand for Cabo Verde Fast Ferry future bonds was slightly greater than the supply, according to Cape Verde Stock Exchange president Veríssimo Pinto (A Semana).

INFLATION

The Consumer Price Index registered a monthly variation rate of -0.3% between May and June of this year, while the homologous variation rate dropped 1.8% in regards to May, standing at 0.1% (A Semana).

AIR TRAVEL

Privately-owned Cape Verdean company Halcyon Airways will begin operating flights to the island of São Nicolau this week, offering three weekly flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays (A Semana).

AGRICULTURE

The embargo that for the past twenty years has prevented agricultural products from leaving the island of Santo Antão appears close to ending (A Semana).

MEDIA

Our friends at A Semana are about to launch a completely revamped interactive website, aimed not only at the country’s resident population, but especially at Cape Verde’s large and widely scattered diaspora.

INVESTMENT

Cape Verde’s prime minister proposed Monday the creation of a network of entities to reduce the waiting time for the resolution of companies’ problems and make it easier to invest in Cape Verde, according to Inforpress ( Macauhub).

The minister for Infrastructures, Transport and Telecommunications in Cape Verde, Manuel Inocêncio, revealed that the government is to invest 50 million Euros in the Porto da Palmeira, on the island of Sal. The first phase of the modernization and expansion work, estimated at 19 million Euros, is being carried out by the Mota-Engil consortium and should be finished by July 2010 (Macauhub).

Cape Verde news update, July 25th

In Banking, Cape Verde, Investments, Politics, Real estate, Security, Tourism on July 25, 2009 at 10:43 am

POLITICS

The Constitutional Revision Commission will meet on July 27 in Praia to reach a consensus and establish a final accord between the PAICV and the MpD for the much-awaited revision of Cape Verde’s Constitution (A Semana).

REAL ESTATE

The municipality of Santa Cruz, on the island of Santiago, will soon see the emergence of a tourist real-estate enterprise that will modify its landscape, contribute toward its socio-economic development and provide a quality product in the tourist real-estate sector (A Semana).

STOCK EXCHANGE

The public sale offer of Cabo Verde Fast Ferry bonds, which will end on Friday, July 24, has been a success, according to Cape Verde Stock Exchange president Veríssimo Pinto, who spoke three days before the offer is set to wrap up (A Semana).

LAW ENFORCEMENT

National Police on the island of Brava arrested seven individuals last weekend for illegal possession of firearms, ammunition, currency and drugs. National Police officers also seized four vehicles as a part of their first operation within the context of the Summer Security Plan (A Semana).

A São Vicente district court judge released 59-year-old Austrian citizen Alfred Mandl on bail, after he was arrested last week upon receiving a postal package containing a product that tested positive as cocaine. In addition to the package, some 200 rounds of 22 caliber ammunition were seized in his home in the valley of Paúl, on the island of Santo Antão (A Semana).

Boa Vista district court has rejected a request for an injunction against the construction of a new hotel by the Riu Group in Santa Mónica-Lacacão filed by the Order of Architects of Cape Verde (OAC) (A Semana).

BANKING

Lybia is to open two banks in Cape Verde following the signing of a cooperation agreement between the two countries, Capeverdean president Pedro Pires announced (VisaoNews)


Cape Verde news update, July 18th

In Airports, Cape Verde, Elections, Infrastructure, Investments, Politics, Ports, Real estate, Security, Tourism, Travel on July 18, 2009 at 9:52 am

POLITICS

Cape Verdean President Pedro Pires reaffirmed his desire this week to retire from politics in 2010, at the end of his second five-year term as the nation’s head of state. According to statements he made in Paris, he plans to write his memoirs following his retirement (A Semana).

PORTS & AIRPORTS

The government of Cape Verde said it would invest 300 million euros in the port sector on the islands of Fogo, Sal, Santiago, Boavista, Sao Vicente and Santo Antao, adding that a new airport would also be built on the latter (Macauhub).

BORDER CONTROL

Minister of Internal Administration Lívio Lopes and his Portuguese counterpart, José Magalhães, launched the pilot phase of the PASSE (Secure Automatic Exit and Entry Process) system. The system will control Cape Verde’s exit and entry points using information technology (A Semana).

AIR TRAVEL

The Banjul Accord Group Accident Investigation Agency (BAGAIA), which will be headquartered in Cape Verde. The installation of this type of institution will increase the country’s technical capacities, as high-level civil aviation specialists will be permanently placed in Cape Verde (A Semana),

REAL ESTATE

The Cape Verdean Association of Tourist Real-Estate Promoters (Promitur) is asking its associates to adjust their business plans in order to weather the financial crisis that has begun to be felt in the country (A Semana).

TOURISM

Yet another sign that the opening of Boa Vista’s international airport is having an influence on tourist agencies, even in the midst of the financial crisis, is the fact that Portuguese travel agency Soltrópico saw its revenues jump 56.5% in the first half of 2009 thanks to the sale of tourist packages to the island, which shot up 75.6% (A Semana).

LAW ENFORCEMENT

A postal control operation carried out by the National Police and Judiciary Police detected a product sent through the mail that reacted positively to cocaine detection tests. According to information gathered by A Semana Online, the 300 grams of cocaine seized had as their intended recipient a well-known grogue (sugar cane brandy) producer in Paúl, Santo Antão, Alfred Mendl, locally known as “Alfred the German.”

Two of Praia’s most active thieves, believed to be responsible for a considerable portion of the robberies registered in the capital city’s companies and homes in recent times, are now behind bars at São Martinho prison after Judiciary Police arrested the two men, aged 25 and 26, on charges of having committed more than 10 violent robberies in Praia retail establishments (A Semana).

Brazil news update, July 12th

In Agriculture, Banking, Brazil, Economy, Energy, Foreign Trade, Investments, Oil, Politics, Ports, Real estate, Retail, Security, Telecom, Travel on July 12, 2009 at 8:43 pm

RATINGS & ECONOMICS

Moody’s Investors Service put Brazil’s foreign and local currency credit ratings on review for possible upgrade, citing the economy’s resilience to economic shocks from the global financial crisis (Reuters).

Brazil’s currency and benchmark stock index are poised for synchronized declines as technical indicators for the BRIC nations, also including Russia, India and China, show signs of stress, according to Citigroup Inc (Bloomberg).

Brazil’s exports may surpass the government’s official estimate of $160 billion this year as the global economy recovers, spurring demand for commodities and other Brazilian goods, Trade Secretary Welber Barral said (Bloomberg).

Brazil’s economy will rebound from recession next year faster than was previously expected as the local currency strengthens, Itau Unibanco Holding SA said (Bloomberg).

POLITICS

Fresh reports of alleged fraud and embezzlement by Brazil Senate chief Jose Sarney in Brazil’s weekend press are fueling an ongoing Senate ethics scandal and have renewed pressure for Sarney to resign (Reuters).

Brazil’s Senate agreed to move ahead with a long-delayed corruption probe of state oil company Petrobras that is unlikely to harm the company’s massive offshore oil developments, but could slow key energy legislation. The inquiry was originally announced in May, but partisan wrangling delayed the proceedings (Reuters).

Brazil’s chief climate negotiator criticised the Group of Eight rich nations on Thursday for not taking more forceful steps to curb global warming, saying proposed long-term targets were meaningless (Reuters).

Brazil said it would give Cuba up to $300 million in credits to start rebuilding the island’s port of Mariel, better known as the site of a 1980 Cuban exodus to the United States. Brazilian Industry and Trade Minister Miguel Jorge said $110 million had been approved by his government and the rest would likely be, as Brazil strengthens its ties with communist-led Cuba (Reuters).

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the U.S. dollar would remain important for decades but he believed it was possible to develop new trade relations not dependent on the dollar (Reuters).

BUSINESS

Celesio AG’s supervisory board gave the green light on Friday for the German drug distributor’s contested takeover of a Brazilian peer, which had exposed a rift between its management and main shareholder. Celesio said directors cleared the acquisition of 50.1 percent in Panpharma, down from the 54 percent it had initially said it would purchase as part of a planned capital increase at Brasil’s largest drug distributor (Reuters).

Brazil’s antitrust regulator imposed temporary restrictions on Perdigao’s 1.4-billion-real ($710 million) takeover of rival foodmaker Sadia until a final ruling on the transaction is made (Reuters).

OIL

A consortium of companies failed to find oil in deep waters off Brazil’s coast, a sign the South American nation’s push to become an energy exporter is still fraught with risks (Reuters).

Hess Corp did not file a discovery of oil after drilling a well in Brazil’s offshore Santos Basin BM-S-22 bloc (Reuters).

BANKING

Banco Bradesco, Brazil’s second-largest private sector bank, said it would book a pretax gain of 410 million reais ($206 million) from the sale of a stake in credit card company VisaNet (Reuters).

Banco Nossa Caixa, the Brazilian lender recently purchased by state-owned giant Banco do Brasil, said it expects loan concessions to rise about 50 percent this year and add 60,000 corporate customers (Reuters).

AIR TRAVEL & AERONAUTICS

Foreign capital limits in Brazilian airline companies could rise to 49 percent from a present cap of 20 percent, according to a draft bill that the Civil Aviation Advisory Council said it is sending to the government (Reuters).

Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer said it delivered 56 planes in the second quarter, bringing the total for the first six months of the year to 96 (Reuters).

Boeing is prepared to have Brazilian companies supply a “big portion” of components for its Super Hornet jetfighter, creating as many as 5,000 local jobs, to sell 36 of the warplanes to the Latin American nation (Bloomberg).

STEEL

Germany’s largest steelmaker, ThyssenKrupp, will have to delay again the start-up of a coking operation at a new Brazilian plant but a spokesman said it should not affect the timing of its steel blast furnace (Reuters).

Brazil’s national development bank, BNDES, has granted a credit line of 1.5 billion reais ($753 million) to Gerdau, the country’s largest steelmaker (Reuters).

REAL ESTATE

Controlling shareholders of Brazilian real estate developer Abyara offered to pay up to 30 million reais ($15 million) to repurchase all its stock in circulation (Reuters).

ELECTRIC CARS

The first of many roadside electric charging stations in Brazil is set to be installed in the Barra de Tijuca neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, and it’ll be solar-powered (Reuters).

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Public prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro have requested the imprisonment of 30 police officers accused of killing young men in “death squad” type executions (Reuters).

TELECOMS

Telecom Italia will invest 3 billion euros ($4.2 billion) in Brazil through 2011 to boost its Internet broadband services operation (Reuters).

Cape Verde news update, July 11th

In Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Economy, Foreign Trade, Infrastructure, Investments, Security, Telecom, Tourism, Travel on July 11, 2009 at 12:31 pm

TELECOMS

Mobile phone and Internet services have been presenting anomalies for several days, with frequent cuts in Internet connections and difficulties making phone calls using the CV Móvel network (A Semana).

SOUTH ATLANTIC

Bilateral relations between Angola and Cape Verde have shown very significant results, according to affirmations made last week by Cape Verde’s ambassador in Luanda, Domingos Mascarenhas (A Semana).

A group of Cape Verdean businesspeople from the handicraft sector are taking part in the 10th National Handicraft Business Fair – Fenearte in Recife, the capital of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco (Macauhub).

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Lawyer Manuel Barbosa, who was arrested on the island of Sal on Friday, July 3, and ordered held in preventative detention pending trial on drug trafficking charges, was transferred Tuesday, July 7, to São Martinho prison on the island of Santiago. The lack of security and overcrowding at Sal’s jail were the reasons for the transfer (A Semana).

Customs inspectors at Manaus port, in the Brazilian state of Amazonas, seized a loudspeaker on Monday, June 29, with more than a kilogram of cocaine hidden inside. The merchandise was to be shipped to the city of Praia (A Semana).

The external audit carried out by Price Waterhouse Cooper on the administration of former Praia mayor Felisberto Vieira, who lost his bid for a third term in office in May of last year, has revealed “breakdowns in the system of internal control with regards to accounting and serious breaches of legality and of procedures established in the law,” (A Semana).

TRANSPORT & INFRASTRUCTURE

A new boat is slated to begin plying the waters between the islands of Fogo and Brava and the rest of Cape Verde in August. With a capacity for 580 passengers and 600 metric tons of cargo, the vessel is expected to minimize the isolation the two islands have been subjected to over the past several years and help them become more integrated with the rest of Cape Verde (A Semana).

The road connecting the villages of Calhau and Norte de Baía, on the island of São Vicente, has been opened to traffic. The road, which completes the island’s highway ring, was unveiled by Prime Minister José Maria Neves (A Semana).

TOURISM

Travel agency Solplan, part of the Orizonia group, introduced its first vacation packages to the islands of Sal and Boa Vista last week, with flights on airlines White and TACV from Lisbon. The introduction comes as Orizonia prepares to open its Iberostar Resort in Cape Verde (A Semana).

Cape Verde news update, July 5th

In Cape Verde, Economy, Energy, Investments, Ports, Security, Tourism, Travel on July 5, 2009 at 11:24 am

ECONOMY

“Strong” public investment in large infrastructures, particularly roads and ports, will drive economic growth in Cape Verde during the current period of crisis, according to Cape Verde’s Central Bank (Macauhub).

LAW ENFORCEMENT

Lawyer Manuel Barbosa, who represented defendant Tigana in the drug trafficking and racketeering trial that ended Friday on the island of Sal, was arrested as he prepared to board a flight to Praia (A Semana)

A traffic police officer was the victim of an armed robbery at approximately 8:30 pm Tuesday, June 30, perpetrated by four delinquents as he returned to his home in the Praia neighborhood of Tira-Chapéu (A Semana).

Judiciary Police officers arrested a young woman from Guinea Bissau at Praia International Airport in the early morning hours of Monday with 60 cocaine-filled capsules in her stomach. The individual was arriving on a flight from the Brazilian city of Fortaleza (A Semana).

CIDADE VELHA

Cidade Velha – the cradle of the Cape Verdean nation, the first European city in the tropics, a slave trading post and a symbol of Cape Verdeanness – has finally been declared a World Heritage Site (A Semana).

AIR TRAVEL

The certification process of São Vicente’s much-awaited international airport, international operations at which were scheduled to begin in July, has become shrouded in uncertainty due to a technical problem in the motor of the aircraft owned by ASECNA, which inspects and calibrates the Precision Approach Path Indicator (A Semana).

PORTS

The tender for construction of the new fishing port in Mindelo on the Cape Verdean island of Sao Vicente is reserved exclusively for Spanish companies as Spain is funding the project, the Cape Verdean minister for the Environment, Rural Development and Marine resources said in Praia (Macauhub).

FINANCE

Portugal and Cape Verde Monday in Lisbon signed agreements to create and extend credit lines to an overall value of 500 million euros, for use in housing and port facilities and renewable energy projects in Cape Verde (Macauhub).

Debate on drugs

In Brazil, Security on July 2, 2009 at 5:59 pm

The call for a public debate on alternatives, including treating drug use as an issue of public health rather than criminal law, and decriminalising marijuana, is gaining adherents.

Read the story in The Economist

Brazil’s government’s philosopher steps down

In Brazil, Politics, Security on July 2, 2009 at 5:50 pm

Two years ago Roberto Mangabeira Unger, a Harvard law professor and philosopher, was appointed minister for strategic affairs. Now he leaves office…

Read the full story at The Economist

Slum walls raise suspicion in Rio

In Brazil, Security on June 27, 2009 at 3:14 pm

When residents of Rio de Janeiro’s mammoth Rocinha slum heard of government plans to build a wall around parts of their community, opposition to the idea quickly mounted. The wall would be an “ecobarrier” aimed at curbing the unchecked and damaging expansion of the “favela” slums into Rio’s lush tropical forest, state officials told them.

Read the full story at Reuters

Cape Verde news update, June 27th

In Agriculture, Angola, Banking, Cape Verde, Economy, Hotels, Security, Tourism, Travel on June 27, 2009 at 11:45 am

HERITAGE

Cidade Velha, Cape Verde’s first settlement and cultural bedrock, has been unanimously declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO Committee (A Semana). Earlier, Cidade Velha was elected as one of the “Seven Portuguese Wonders of the World” (A Semana).

SECURITY

Cape Verde and the United Kingdom signed a memorandum of understanding calling for joint surveillance and patrol operations aimed at combating drug trafficking to be carried out in Cape Verdean territorial waters and in the surrounding zone of the Atlantic Ocean (A Semana).

The Portuguese and Cape Verdean Ministries of Internal Administration have issued a joint communiqué expressing satisfaction at the results obtained so far as part of their cooperation initiatives. They also announced that Portugal will donate 30 computers and 40 passport reading devices to Cape Verde’s Emigration and Border Department (A Semana).

A course on investigating violent crimes, administered by instructors from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), took place in Praia (A Semana).

AGRICULTURE

The Cape Verdean government has created a public capital corporation to manage the agricultural lands it was given in Angola by that country’s authorities as a part of bilateral cooperation between the two states (A Semana).

ECONOMY

According to Fitch Ratings, the Cape Verdean state’s revenues “are below budget forecasts,” and, as a result, the budget deficit will likely be “more than 7% of GDP” this year, considerably more than the 5% mentioned by the government (A Semana).

Cape Verde’s General Directorate for Tax and Contributions (DGCI) calculates that taxpayers owe it 2 billion Cape Verdean escudos (US$25 million), and has announced measures to put an end to tax evasion. Emanuel Moreira, the director-general of the DGCI said that there were currently hundreds of public and private institutions that were not paying taxes and added that the fall in tax collection was not due to the crisis but rather to taxpayers not meeting their obligations (Macauhub).

BANKING

Cape Verdean commercial bank Banco Interatlântico has been distinguished by the magazine Global Finance with the Best Bank award. The magazine, which has been in publication for 22 years and is distributed in more than 150 countries, is an international reference (A Semana).

AIR TRAVEL

TACV Cabo Verde Airlines’ new regional representative in Fortaleza, Brazil, Sá Nogueira, affirms that the company hopes to serve as a link between northeastern Brazil and South Africa during the 2010 World Cup (A Semana).

Portuguese travel agency Soltrópico will introduce another direct flight between Portuguese city Porto and the island of Boa Vista this week. The initiative will be the third weekly flight the company offers to Cape Verde (A Semana).

The director-general for Tourism Development in Cape Verde, Carlos Pires Ferreira, has advised against building an international airport in Santo Antão, if the island should opt for developing quality tourism. Although he recognised that tourists prefer to travel directly to their final destination, Pires Ferreira said he believed that building an international airport in Santo Antão would only make sense if the island opted for mass tourism (Macauhub).

HOTELS

The Roterdão Hotel is Praia’s newest hotel establishment. Located in the city’s Achada de Santo António district, the hotel has 17 rooms – four junior suites, eight doubles and five singles – and is the result of investments of more than 100 million escudos (A Semana).

YOUTH

The town of Tarrafal, on the north of the island of Santiago, has been temporarily transformed into a little Euro-Afro-Brazilian village. There, young leaders from countries as distant from one another as Switzerland and Zimbabwe, Georgia and Brazil, are preparing to turn this new generation into spreaders of knowledge on political, environmental and gender issues (A Semana).

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