Latin America

• Saturday, September 1st 2012 - 04:05 UTC

  Brazilian economy commodities dependency en route to its worst year since 2009

  

  The Brazilian economy expanded 0.4% in the second quarter of the year over the previous three months, and 0.5% over the same period a year ago, according to the latest release from the country’s official Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute, IBGE.

• Friday, August 31st 2012 - 01:44 UTC

  Chile ratifies support for Argentine Malvinas; meets regional solidarity group

  

  Foreign minister Alfredo Moreno ratified Chilean support for Argentina’s sovereignty claim over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands during a meeting with a delegation from Andean countries belonging to the “Solidarity Group with Malvinas”.

• Friday, August 31st 2012 - 00:56 UTC

  Piñera promised an end to police brutality during student protest marches

  

  Chilean President Sebastian Piñera said that his government would not tolerate police brutality. The remarks came after the police was accused of mistreating student protesters who were demanding educational reforms.

• Friday, August 31st 2012 - 00:42 UTC

  Ecuadorian columnist sentenced to jail and million dollars fine granted asylum in the US

  

  A newspaper columnist who fled Ecuador after he was sentenced to jail and ordered to pay millions of dollars in a libel case pushed by President Rafael Correa has been granted asylum in the United States, his lawyer said on Thursday.

• Thursday, August 30th 2012 - 05:09 UTC

  Chile joins the Colombia/FARC peace talks scheduled to take off in Norway

  

  Cuba will be the permanent seat for the peace dialogue between the government of Colombia and the FARC guerrilla group, talks which will have the support from Norway, Venezuela and Chile according to a broadcasting station from Bogotá.

• Thursday, August 30th 2012 - 05:04 UTC

  Mexico strikes light crude oil in deep water deposits; boost for Pemex morale

  

  Mexico’s state oil company Pemex has made a new light crude oil find in the Gulf of Mexico, President Felipe Calderon said on Wednesday, the first such discovery in the country's push to exploit deep water deposits and boost output.

• Thursday, August 30th 2012 - 04:55 UTC

  Canada confirms Falklands self determination despite lobbying from companies operating in Argentina

  

  The Canadian government reaffirmed its support of the Falkland Islands and their right to self determination, according to a report from the Canadian edition of The Wall Street Journal.

• Thursday, August 30th 2012 - 04:50 UTC

  Correa and Assange, “two of a kind” writes Nobel Prize Vargas Llosa

  

  The Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange are “two of a kind” because of the multiple abuses to freedom of expression committed by both, wrote Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa in one of his weekly columns on current affairs.

• Thursday, August 30th 2012 - 04:43 UTC

  Iran, Venezuela and Egypt, a possible peace troika to address the Syria situation

  

  Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro has welcomed Iran’s proposal for the formation of a troika committee on Syria consisting of Iran, Egypt, and Venezuela

• Thursday, August 30th 2012 - 04:25 UTC

  Venezuelan refinery ‘cooling down’; independent report points to serious lack of maintenance

  

  Venezuela is carrying out an “exhaustive” inspection of its biggest refinery before attempting to restart processing after extinguishing a four-day fire yesterday caused by an explosion that killed 48 people and left hundreds homeless.