Latin America

• Saturday, October 22nd 2011 - 04:23 UTC

  Bolivia’s Morales yields to Amazon Indian protests and scraps plan to build highway

  

  President Evo Morales said Friday that he was scrapping plans to build a highway through a nature reserve in Bolivia's jungle lowlands, bowing to public pressure after a two-month protest march by Amazon Indians.

• Saturday, October 22nd 2011 - 00:43 UTC

  Mercosur and EU will be ready to exchange trade proposals ‘in June 2012’

  

  Mercosur and the European Union are committed to presenting their proposals with list of products for a free trade agreement in June 2012, announced on Friday Uruguay’s Foreign Affaire minister Luis Almagro.

• Saturday, October 22nd 2011 - 00:42 UTC

  Doctor who warned of Chavez serious health condition abandons Venezuela with his family

  

  The Venezuelan doctor who forecast President Hugo Chavez had two years left because of the aggressiveness of his pelvic cancer said on Friday he had left the country with his family after colleagues reported police visiting his consultancy.

• Saturday, October 22nd 2011 - 00:40 UTC

  Blatter announces anti-corruption plan and ‘good governance committee’

  

  FIFA president Sepp Blatter announced his long-awaited anti-corruption plan Friday including a pledge to re-open the case into the collapse of former marketing partner ISL.

• Saturday, October 22nd 2011 - 00:36 UTC

  Sarkozy promises ‘unfaltering support’ to Spain to ensure peace in Basque country

  

  France's President Nicolas Sarkozy congratulated Spain on Friday for the Basque separatist group ETA's ceasefire, branding it a “victory for democracy over violence”.

• Friday, October 21st 2011 - 05:19 UTC

  World Cup 2014 takes off in Sao Paulo and Maracana stadium the final

  

  Sao Paulo will host the opening match of the 2014 World Cup and Rio de Janeiro's Maracana stadium, where Uruguay in 1950 knocked out the host’s dream of its first Cup, will stage the final, FIFA announced Thursday.

• Thursday, October 20th 2011 - 21:36 UTC

  Brazil lowers basic rate half a point for a second time running to 11.5%

  

  Brazil’s central bank cut borrowing costs by half a point for a second straight meeting. The bank’s board, led by President Alexandre Tombini, voted unanimously to reduce the benchmark Selic rate to 11.5% from 12% percent.

• Thursday, October 20th 2011 - 21:16 UTC

  Chavez declares he’s free of cancer; makes pilgrimage to Catholic miraculous shrine

  

  Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez self-declared he was cancer-free on Thursday four months after surgery to remove a cancerous tumour that shook the oil rich country ahead of a 2012 presidential vote.

• Thursday, October 20th 2011 - 06:55 UTC

  Amazon Indians reach La Paz rattling Morales grip over government

  

  Hundreds of members from indigenous tribes opposing a jungle highway financed by Brazil and that they say will spoil their lands in Bolivia's Amazon drew cheers Wednesday when they paraded into the capital La Paz after a 63-day protest march.

• Thursday, October 20th 2011 - 06:51 UTC

  Cuba to lease larger plots to private farmers hoping to increase food production

  

  Cuba will greatly expand the amount of land granted to private farmers, an agriculture official said on Wednesday, as the country struggles to boost food production.