Conservative presidential candidate Sebastian Piñera is maintaining a wide lead in the polls ahead of Chile's November election, though the race to challenge him in a potential runoff is tight, according to a monthly survey. Piñera, who was president of Chile between 2010 and 2014, captured 34% of voter intentions in the survey by GfK Adimark, up from 32% last month.
Uruguay has a new vice-president following the resignation of the questioned and discredited Raul Sendic. On Wednesday mid-morning, Lucia Topolansky, wife of ex president Jose Mujica received unanimous support from the General Assembly (123/123). Under the Uruguayan constitution the head of the most voted Senate group of the winning party in the last election, in this case the MPP (Popular Participation Movement), leads in the presidential succession line. She is the first woman to occupy such a post.
Assessments are still coming in from the impact of Hurricane Irma on a number of Caribbean countries in the northern Leeward Islands and the northern Caribbean with warnings and watches still in place for a few countries in Irma’s path. Additionally, due to the projected path of Hurricane Jose, a category 4 storm, tropical storm and hurricane watches and warnings have been issued for some countries in the northern Leeward Islands.
Hurricane Irma’s leading edge swirled toward Florida state with 195 km/h winds Saturday on a projected new track that could expose Tampa — not Miami — to a direct hit. Tampa has not taken a head-on blow from a major hurricane in nearly a century.
Brazil's central bank slashed its key interest rate this week by a full percentage point to 8.25%, the eighth consecutive cut as the country slowly exits a painful recession. The one percentage point fall in the base Selic rate had been predicted by markets and matched a previous cut in July.
An earthquake of magnitude 8.1 struck off the southern coast of Mexico late on Thursday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, killing at least 61 people and triggering small tsunami waves but no major destruction.
Argentina will be hosting the 2018 G20 summit of world leaders and is considering renting fighter aircraft from Brazil as part of the security preparations since the country's air force is mostly grounded or with very limited interception and strike capacity, according to Argentine military sources.
Overfishing has given rise to a diplomatic trouble between China and Ecuador. In mid-August, Ecuador detained a Chinese vessel in the Galapagos Islands and found 6.600 sharks on board. The 20 Chinese fishermen have been sentenced up to four years for illegally fishing and to pay US$ 5.9 million.
Brazil's Finance Minister, Henrique Meirelles, said on Monday that he expects the economy to grow at around 3% in 2018. His statement was made a few minutes after a ministerial meeting at the Planalto Palace, at a time when the government is preparing itself to confront a new charge against President Michel Temer.
UK-based vehicle manufacturing outfit Alexander Dennis will be exporting 90 iconic red double-decker buses to Mexico, the company confirmed on Wednesday. The contract was backed by an equivalent £44m finance deal via UK Export Finance – part of the Department for International Trade - which has provided £1.7bn of backing to businesses since the department's creation in 2016 to help businesses export post-Brexit.