President Barack Obama visited an American mosque on Wednesday and declared that attacks on Islam were an attack on all religions, in an effort to counter rhetoric from Donald Trump and other Republican presidential candidates that has alienated Muslims.
Argentina's main opposition party suffered a split on Wednesday after an estimated fifteen of its lawmakers quit, party leaders admitted, handing a boost to newly-elected President Mauricio Macri's hopes of pushing his legislative agenda through Congress. In effect, Macri's political alliance in the Lower House becomes the majority grouping.
Argentina announced Tuesday that it reached a $900 million preliminary accord to settle its pending debt with 50,000 Italian holders of defaulted Argentine government bonds. Finance minister Alfonso Prat-Gay said that the agreement with Italian bondholders includes the Argentine government's acknowledgement of the debt and reasonable interest.
Two of the 46 Chileans arrested on Monday for vandalism against a Malvinas Fallen Monument in Argentina's second largest city, Rosario, were still waiting on Tuesday for the prosecutors' charges before going before a federal judge. During the first hearing, advised by a government supplied lawyer, the Chileans abstained from making any statement while demanding to be set free.
Brazilian Congress gave on Tuesday a harsh welcome to President Dilma Rousseff at its yearly inaugural session, booing her and threatening new difficulties added to the turbulent relations that prevail between the executive and legislative branches.
Industrial output in Brazil fell for a seventh straight month in December, capping the worst year for manufacturers in more than a decade as they struggle with inflation, high interest rates and political uncertainty.
The first known case of Zika virus transmission in the United States was reported in Texas on Tuesday by local health officials, who said it likely was contracted through sex and not a mosquito bite, a day after the World Health Organization declared an international public health emergency.
Brazilian airline shares soared nearly 30% on Monday after a newspaper report said the government may scrap limits on foreign ownership of domestic airlines to attract investment to the struggling sector. President Dilma Rousseff may propose legislation giving her discretion to let foreign groups own as much as 100% of local airlines, up from 20%, Valor Econômico reported.
Norway's Statoil giant announced on Tuesday an agreement with French Total to acquire a 15% working interest in an offshore exploration block in Uruguay's continental shelf. The announcement comes only weeks before Total is preparing to drill its first exploratory well in Uruguayan waters.
BP slumped to its biggest annual loss last year and announced thousands more job cuts on Tuesday, showing that even one of the nimblest oil producers is struggling in the worst market downturn in over a decade.