Commander Dilip Donde, the first Indian attempting a solo circumnavigation voyage of the earth, will celebrate on Tuesday India’s 60th Republic Day by unfurling the national flag on his yacht, INSV Mhadei, docked at Port Stanley in the Falklands Islands, nearly 13,000 km from his homeland, according to reports in the Mumbai press
Over five million Brazilians are learning Spanish, according to the latest edition from Spain’s Cervantes Institute, “2009 Memory: Spanish language in the world”. This compares favourably with the one million registered in 2006, and covers the different levels of education in Brazil from primary school to university.
The world's richest man Bill Gates said on Monday the US economy could take years to recover from recession and predicted taxes will have to rise to bring the federal budget into balance.
Uruguay’s president-elect Jose Mujica said that the long standing conflict over the Botnia pulp mill, which has soured relations with neighbouring Argentina, will inevitably be solved but he will only be meeting with Argentine authorities and not with the pickets who are blocking bridges leading to Uruguay.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper speaking at the International Conference on Haiti taking place in Montreal conceded Monday that countries are in for a decade of “hard work” to rebuild earthquake-shattered Haiti.
Police stopped the head of Argentina's central bank from entering the bank on Sunday evening, hours after he vowed to stay in his job despite a court ruling that the government said meant he had to step down.
Bolivia’s president Evo Morales began his second mandate with a cabinet reshuffle removing most ministers and complying with the gender parity. The announcement was done over the weekend following his second consecutive inauguration ceremony last Friday.
A new US assessment of Venezuela's oil reserves could give the country double the supplies of Saudi Arabia. Scientists working for the US Geological Survey say Venezuela's Orinoco belt region holds twice as much petroleum as previously thought.
The geologists estimate the area could yield more than 500 billion barrels of crude oil.
Brazil and Argentina are the first countries to be visited by Chilean president-elect Sebastián Piñera, who added he will accept invitations from Spain and France and anticipated one of his first actions would be to de-freeze relations with neighbouring Peru.
Chile announced that the “Integration and Cooperation” agreement with Argentina, which was stamped by Presidents Cristina Kirchner and Michelle Bachelet last October 30, became effective as of Friday January 22nd.