
Argentina and Chilean presidents will lead peace and reconciliation celebrations next December in Punta Arenas on the thirtieth anniversary of the papal intervention which prevented a full fledged war over the Beagle channel between the neighbouring countries back in 1978.
The Chilean economy experienced an unexpected trade deficit in September, the first negative month in six years according to the latest release from the Central Bank. The misbalance was 318 million US dollars; a year ago it was a surplus of 1.37 billion US dollars.

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez announced he would not be leaving government until after 2021, in spite of the fact his mandate ends in 2013 and the current constitution does not allow for a new re-election.

A scandal over alleged oil kickbacks has forced out Peru's Energy minister and two top state oil company executives and led the government to void five oil contracts with Norway's Discover Petroleum, officials said Monday.

Bolivian President Evo Morales and opposition governors failed to reach an agreement on Sunday after weeks of negotiations and the dispute over a new constitution apparently will be decided by Congress calling a national referendum on the issue.

Flyglobespan, the Scottish low-cost airline which has a contract for the Falkland Islands Brize Norton air bridge, has clinched deals to lease up to four of its aircraft to LAN Chilean Airways over the winter months, according to a report from the Sunday Times.

The owner of Britain's Chelsea football club, Roman Abramovich, is having a new £200m mega-yacht built, complete with a missile detection system to protect him against pirates and terrorists, reports The Times.

On the eve of the crucial vote in the US House of Representatives, Latinamerican markets tumbled Thursday dragged by Wall Street (down 3.22%), with Brazil's Bovespa and Argentina's Merval suffering the largest losses.

South American Nations Union country members congratulated on Thursday the people and government of Ecuador for the passing and approval of the new Constitution, voted last Sunday, according to an official release made public in Santiago de Chile.

The former partner of a US/Venezuelan citizen on trial in Miami for allegedly trying to cover up the origin of nearly 800,000 US dollars in political cash that was carried in a suitcase into Argentina testified Wednesday that both governments were deeply involved in trying to quell the scandal.