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Buenos Aires (AFP) - A judge on Thursday ordered Argentina's former president Cristina Kirchner to stand trial on charges of financial mismanagement. It is the first of several cases against the combative 64-year-old leftist leader to go to trial. A string of cases targeting Kirchner and her rival, current President Mauricio Macri, are clouding Argentine politics ahead of mid-term elections later this year. Kirchner is accused of ordering the central bank to sell dollar futures at artificially low prices, causing Argentina to lose hundreds of millions. She denies wrongdoing. Kirchner's defenders say she should not be prosecuted for a mishandled...

You can't make this stuff up. A current president shields a former president from investigation by appointing him to her cabinet. Then a judge annuls the appointment. Billionaires, corporate execs and politicians are jailed in a massive corruption scandal. Huge protests call for the impeachment of the president, Dilma Rousseff. Oh, and the economy is tanking while its stock market is soaring. This is the story of Brazil. Once a star economic performer, Brazil is now deep in recession, sparked by the gargantuan bribery scandal at Petrobras, the state-run oil company, and a sharp decline in commodity prices. Unemployment is...

Brazilian police Wednesday arrested the government's leader in the Senate for allegedly obstructing the investigation into a corruption scandal at state-owned oil company Petrobras. Supreme Court Justice Teori Zavascki authorized the arrest of Sen. Delcidio do Amaral of the ruling Worker's Party after examining evidence allegedly showing that the senator had interfered in the investigation of the massive corruption-kickback schemed at the oil company. Under Brazilian law, the Supreme Court must approve any investigation of legislators or top officials in the executive branch. Any criminal charges or trials of such figures must also must be approved and judged by the...

Barack Obama held a press conference today in Washington DC with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff today in the White House. obama brazilian leader Obama compared the US to Brazil, including our “similar histories”(?) “Our common values, our strong people-to-people relationships that we have, the fact that we are the largest countries in the hemisphere, with similar histories, I think all that means that we should be very strong partners for years and years.”

COMMENTARY | President Barack Obama has suffered the second embarrassment over oil imports within the space of a week. Brazil, whose offshore deposits of oil were sought by the Obama administration, has signed contracts with China for the product. According to the Washington Times, Brazilian offshore crude may number about 38 billion barrels. Obama went to Brazil last month to put in a bid for the oil, offering loans and other support to develop the oil in an "environmentally responsible matter," The Hill reported at the time. Republicans criticized that initiative, pointing out Obama has placed roadblocks in the way...

Billionaire investor George Soros on Tuesday reported that during the fourth quarter he increased his already considerable stakes in Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. /quotes/comstock/13*!pbr/quotes/nls/pbr (PBR 38.29, +0.05, +0.13%) and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!pot/quotes/nls/pot (POT 99.36, -1.25, -1.24%) . Soros, through his Soros Fund Management LLC, reported holding 36.8 million American depositary receipts of the Brazilian oil company known as Petrobras as of Dec. 31 - a holding valued at about $900 million at the time. Soros held 21.2 million ADRs at Sept. 30, according to his disclosure filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Soros...

The Export-Import Bank has proposed a $2 billion loan to a Brazilian oil company to fund oil drilling and development by a state-owned company, hurting American workers, oil companies, and the country’s energy independence. Sarah Palin sees this is as a rather self-defeating strategy. After the idea went public, Palin quickly noted that President Obama wants to use American dollars to pay salaries and benefits to Brazilians — to state-owned oil company, Petrobras, at that — to the detriment of our own country. In response, Ex-Im Bank spokesman Phil Cogan tried to mislead people, and disprove Palin’s assessment, by saying...

AND NOW . . . amidst billowing clouds of fragrant, aromatic first- and second-hand premium cigar smoke. . . it is time for . . . that harmless, lovable little fuzz ball, the highly-trained broadcast specialist, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, from behind the golden EIB microphone, firmly ensconced in the prestigious Attila-the-Hun chair at the Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies, serving humanity simply by showing up, and he’s not retiring until every American agrees with him, do NOT doubt him, with shrieks of joy at the mere mention of his name...