
Chilean company Lan Airlines said on Saturday it was “gradually resuming” domestic and international flights in Argentina that it had suspended on Friday due to a conflict with state-run Intercargo company. Intercargo said it had re-established the service to Lan after the airline agreed to cancel a debt.

The UN General Assembly on Friday put French Polynesia on the global body's decolonization list at a meeting boycotted by France. The resolution, passed by consensus in the 193 member assembly, was called for by the Solomon Islands and other Pacific states that back the Pacific territory's pro-independence parties.

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has guaranteed Sao Paulo's World Cup football stadium will be ready on time, one day after claiming the venue could be taken off the tournament schedule due to construction delays.

Argentina's economic activity expanded 2.6% in March from a year earlier and 0.7% over February, the national statistics institute Indec said on Friday. Accumulated growth in the 12 months through March was 1.3%, down from 1.9% in full-year 2012.

Argentina’s Antarctica campaigns are losing their flair and the country is having difficulties to fill vacancies for the 2013/14 season. This follows repeated claims of alleged corruption and delays in supplying the bases and stations plus an overall lack of support from the Defence ministry.

In the last business day of the week in Buenos Aires, the parallel market or ‘blue’ dollar rose to 8.95 Pesos (selling price) after its declining tendency during the week, while the official rate ended steady at exchange houses at 5.245 Pesos (selling price). The gap between the two markets stands at over 70%.

LAN Chile halted on Friday all its flights in Argentina until Saturday morning after the state company Intercargo which provides ground support for the airline, unilaterally decided to cancel the service despite court orders to the contrary.

Jorge Rafael Videla, a former army commander who led Argentina during the bloodiest period of a “dirty war” dictatorship and was unrepentant about kidnappings and murders ordered by the state, died on Friday at age 87.

In an interview with the Spanish government news agency EFE, Uruguayan President José “Pepe” Mujica said Argentina’s economic “autarkic project” “worsens” bilateral ties and “multiplies” trade troubles. Still, he ruled out pressures on Buenos Aires; “they won’t work,” he insisted.

Argentina’s whitewashing bill or more modestly ‘tax amnesty’ has joined the political debate of the coming October mid-term elections. The tax revenue bureau or AFIP confirmed taxpayers’ “legitimate externalization right” “will not be affected” even in the “hypothetical case that the opposition manages to rally a majority parliamentary stance” after October’s legislative elections.