
Foreign Secretary William Hague has accused Argentina of bullying and intimidatory behaviour towards the Falkland Islands. Mr Hague in a Sunday interview with The Sun promised never to negotiate over the islands' sovereignty unless their people called for it - a referendum will take place next month.

Brazilian inflation in January climbed to 0.86%, the highest for the month in the last ten years, according to the country’s stats office, IBGE. Inflation in December was 0.79%, ending the twelve months of last year at 5.82% which was in the target range with a ceiling of 6.5%.

Venezuela devalued its currency for the fifth time in nine years as ailing President Hugo Chavez seeks to narrow a widening fiscal gap and reduce a shortage of dollars in the economy. The new exchange rate falls by 32% to 6.3 Bolivar per dollar starting Feb. 13, Finance Minister Jorge Giordani told reporters in Caracas.

India has shown great interest in mining iron ore, granite, gold and diamond in Uruguay and has entered into a deal for exploring and encouraging investment opportunities in the mining sector, according to Indian sources visiting Uruguay.

After lengthy talks in Brussels European leaders have reached an agreement on the budget for 2014-20 with a ceiling of 960 billion Euros, the first time the EU multi-annual budget has been reduced.

Ireland clinched a long-awaited deal to ease the burden of its bank debts, sending its borrowing costs falling to pre-crisis levels and bolstering its chances of ending its reliance on EU-IMF loans this year.

Two contrasting views have surfaced in the Uruguayan government regarding inflation which has been steadily climbing and seems so far immune to monetary tools, but is now the second highest in the region behind Argentina.

Economic activity in Chile grew 4.7% in December from the year earlier on gains in the service and retail industries, and ended the twelve months of 2012 with an expansion of 5.5% over the previous year according to Central bank data.

Uruguay seems to be recovering its air connectivity after a rough year that saw the closing down of its flag air carrier Pluna, and the announcement by Spanish airline Iberia that it will cease flights between Montevideo and Madrid as of next April. Iberia is the only European airline currently calling in Uruguay.

Bank of England has chosen not to inject any more money into the economy, leaving its quantitative easing (QE) programme at £375bn. The Bank also left interest rates unchanged at 0.5%.