Venezuela's parliament has granted President Nicolas Maduro decree powers for the rest of 2015 in a move he says is to defend the country from US meddling but opponents decry as evidence of autocracy. In a noisy National Assembly session, ruling Socialist Party legislators, who have a majority, applauded the Enabling Law as a legitimate response to a US declaration that Venezuela is a security threat and sanctions on seven officials.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz has published an article questioning the criminal accusation filed by late AMIA prosecutor Alberto Nisman against Argentine President Cristina Fernández and Foreign minister Hector Timerman, while asserting that the official's handling of the case was far from exemplary.
The US has expressed concern over the UK's bid to become a founding member of a Chinese-backed development bank. The UK is the first big Western economy to apply for membership of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) despite the fact that US has raised questions over the bank's commitment to international standards on governance.
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has announced she will visit Cuba later this month. Ms Mogherini said Cuba was facing a very interesting period and the EU wanted to build on the momentum to “take the relationship forward”.
The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) slammed the United States for its decision to label Venezuela as a security threat and impose sanctions against a number of its officials, calling on Washington to revoke the measure.
Argentina’s central bank governor Alejandro Vanoli said that despite the continued erosion of the Brazilian currency against the US dollar, which ended the week trading at 3.28 Real to the greenback, monetary policy will continue to manage the foreign exchange to avoid volatility and ensure economic growth.
Pro-government labor unions, student organizations and social activists staged demonstrations across Brazil on Friday in support of President Dilma Rousseff, two days before mass protests planned against her administration.
Pope Francis during one of the several interviews motivated by his two years in the Vatican, also referred to his fellow citizens in Argentina, which he described as non humble and on the contrary rather vain and arrogant.
Argentina’s Cabinet Chief Anibal Fernández received United States ambassador to Argentina Noah Mamet in his Casa Rosada office. Apparently the meeting was strictly protocol, and no details of the agenda were supplies to the media.
The administration of President Cristina Fernandez has ordered the declassification of all files connected with the attack against the AMIA Jewish community center that took place in 1994 in Buenos Aires City. Some of the documents were already in the hands of the special prosecutor in charge of investigating the bombing, now late Alberto Nisman.