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Mexican lawmakers OK giving armed forces airspace duties
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Brazil's Lula concerned about economy, high interest rates
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U.S. flags little room for compromise in Mexico corn spat
Feb 23 (Reuters) - The latest in Latin American politics today: Canadian miner stops processing ore at key Panama mine PANAMA CITY - First Quantum Minerals suspended ore processing operations at a key Panamanian copper mine, the Canadian miner said, in a move the Central American country's government dismissed as unhelpful pressure tactics. The company and Panama's government have been locked in a prolonged contract dispute with tax and royalties at the heart of the stalemate. First Quantum's local unit, Minera Panama, will begin a partial demobilization of its workforce of over 8,000 employees and contractors, and expects the impact to increase significantly in the coming weeks if concentrate shipments do not resume, the company said. Panama's trade and industry ministry brushed off the miner's announcement as "pressure tactics" that will not help ongoing negotiations, in a statement released later on Thursday.
Mexican lawmakers OK giving armed forces airspace duties
MEXICO CITY - Mexico's Congress approved a law giving the nation's armed forces a dominant role in airspace surveillance and defense, a measure proponents say is vital to national sovereignty and security. Mexico's defense ministry will now have under its command a new National Center for Surveillance and Protection of Airspace to monitor airspace and "inhibit and counteract" air operations that threaten national security, according to the document approved by legislators. Opposition senators condemned the law and argued it weakens the civil authority in charge of airspace navigation and bolsters a military that has grown stronger under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Brazil's Lula concerned about economy, high borrowing costs
BRASILIA - Brazil's Management Minister Esther Dweck said President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is very concerned with the resumption of economic growth, adding that high interest rates affect funding costs for companies and families. In an interview with news website UOL, she also said that the leftist administration is not guided by the idea of spending a lot to drive economic growth but "to spend correctly." Dweck argued that the high level of current and future interest rates "ends up preventing them from being able to then take out the loans to make the investments necessary for the economy to continue to grow." U.S. flags little room for compromise in Mexico corn spat
ARLINGTON, Va. - The Mexican government's plan to ban
imports of genetically modified corn destined for humans is "not
a situation that lends itself to a compromise," said U.S.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
The comments came after the United States said earlier this
month that it was "disappointed" in the Mexican government's
latest decree to prohibit so-called transgenic corn for human
consumption.
The Mexican Economy Ministry had said last week that it was
eliminating its January 2024 deadline for ending its imports of
GMO corn used to feed animals. However, Mexico will still
prohibit use of the corn for human consumption, such as corn
flour or tortillas made from the grain.
(Compiled by Peter Frontini;
Editing by Sandra Maler)
