
The judge presiding over a long-running battle between Argentina and a group of New York hedge funds said on Friday that he would lift an injunction that had locked Argentina out of international markets, if certain conditions are met.

More than 250.000 passengers and crew members from cruise vessels visited Uruguay during the three months extending from November to January, according to the latest release from the country's Ministry of Tourism. The number of calls in Montevideo during that period was 58, with 156.100 people of which 112.400 (72%) came ashore.

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Friday selected Christine Lagarde to serve as IMF Managing Director for a second five-year term starting on July 5, 2016. The Board’s decision was taken by consensus.

President Mauricio Macri and visiting Italian premier Matteo Renzi vowed to “re-launch bilateral relations”, and emphasized the Italian interest in participating in energy, transport, gas and technology projects in the country which has become home to one of the largest Italian migrations.

The Brazilian government expects to reach an agreement by Friday with Samarco Mineração to settle a 20 billion-real (US$4.9 billion) lawsuit for damages in the deadly dam disaster which burst in inland Minas Gerais creating a tsunami of mud and waste that killed 17 people and reached the Atlantic ocean.

Standard & Poor's downgraded Brazil's credit rating deeper into junk territory on Wednesday, citing its failure to curb its fiscal deficit, in a surprise blow to President Dilma Rousseff`s bid to haul the economy out of its worst recession in decades.

Punta Arenas in the extreme south of Chile is encouraged by the cruise industry prospects for its port and facilities: this season Norwegian Sun has returned with at least ten calls and for 2016/2017 a line will be cruising to Antarctica with Punta Arenas as a home port.

The court-appointed mediator in the bonds dispute says Argentina has reached a settlement with bondholders seeking about 1% of the US$10 billion being pursued by investors. Mediator Daniel Pollack announced on Tuesday in New York the deal in the class action case. The deal came nearly two weeks after he announced two of six leading bondholders settled claims for more than US$1 billion.

Four of the world's biggest oil-producing nations moved to freeze their production on Tuesday to try to halt the 70 percent drop in the price of crude because of a glut of oil on world markets. The agreement was reached by the oil ministers of Russia and three members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Qatar, during a closed-door meeting in Doha, the Qatar capital.

Analysts expect Brazil's economy to contract by 3.33% this year, with the outlook worsening from last week, the Central Bank said Monday. Last week, analysts said they expected Brazil's economy to contract by 3.21% this year.