
Colombia's government will soon begin talks that could lead to formal negotiations for peace with the country's biggest guerrilla group, known as the FARC, according to a Colombian intelligence source.

Following similar complaints against Argentina by the European Union, United States and Japan, Mexico has launched its first dispute against Argentina at the World Trade Organization, the WTO announced on Monday.

Apple Inc. scored a sweeping legal victory over Samsung as a US jury found the Korean company had copied critical features of the hugely popular iPhone and iPad and awarded the US company 1.051 billion dollars in damages.

The Foreign Ministers of the Organization of American States (OAS) approved last Friday a resolution supporting the inviolability of diplomatic premises, in accordance with the provisions of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, in the context of the situation created between Ecuador and the United Kingdom.

Support for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives has nudged higher, an opinion poll showed, but the weakness of two smaller parties highlights the trouble she may face building another centre-right coalition after Germany's 2013 election.

Britain said it remained committed to reaching a diplomatic solution to the presence of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in Ecuador's London embassy, after both countries took steps to defuse a row over his action in taking refuge there.

The European Commission has again urged Britain and Spain to cooperate on nature protection issues in Gibraltar waters, according to press reports in Spain. The reports cited anonymous Brussels officials saying the Commission had asked both countries to work to that end.

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa said that Britain's failure to extradite former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet more than a decade ago means it has no right to lecture others over the fate of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

By Sean Burges (*) Is Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa really saying that we cannot trust the judicial systems in Britain and Sweden? By granting Julian Assange asylum, he has implicitly stated the British judicial process is flawed and that Sweden is a slavish servant of the US government.

The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and Compassion in World Farming are calling on the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to take immediate action following reports that 400 pregnant cattle among a total of 3,900 cattle being transported by ship from the United States to Russia have died en route.