Latin America

• Saturday, February 11th 2017 - 07:36 UTC

  Mercosur meeting in March to address internal tariffs and Mexico

  

  Mercosur foreign ministers will be meeting next March 9 in Buenos Aires in the framework of Argentina's pro tempore chair and following on the Argentine/Brazilian presidents recent meeting when it was decided to give the group a new thrust taking advantage of the new world scenario.

• Wednesday, February 8th 2017 - 08:02 UTC

  Macri and Temer agree to open Mercosur and to closer ties with Mexico

  

  The leaders of Brazil and Argentina said on Tuesday they would pursue closer ties with Mexico and other Latin American nations alarmed by U.S. President Donald Trump's promises to tear apart trade deals and build a wall in the Mexican border to protect American jobs.

• Monday, February 6th 2017 - 23:00 UTC

  Crop destroying caterpillar rapidly spreading across Africa; maize production endangered

  

  New research announced by scientists at CABI (Center for Agriculture and Bioscience Information) confirms that a recently introduced crop-destroying armyworm caterpillar is now spreading rapidly across Mainland Africa and could spread to tropical Asia and the Mediterranean in the next few years, becoming a major threat to agricultural trade worldwide.

• Monday, February 6th 2017 - 22:42 UTC

  Crime and violence cost Latin America and the Caribbean 3.55% of GDP

  

  A study by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) estimates the direct annual cost of crime and violence in Latin America and the Caribbean at US$261 billion or 3.55% of GDP, roughly what the region invests on infrastructure and double the average cost for developed countries. It is also the equivalent income for 30% of the poorest population, underscoring the grave development impact violence has on the region.

• Saturday, February 4th 2017 - 06:47 UTC

  Temer and Macri meet next week to make Mercosur an effective free trade space

  

  Brazil and Argentina will attempt to eliminate trade barriers which limit or impede Mercosur trade, ensuring a free trade space, “the sooner the better”, revealed Brazilian diplomats in anticipation of the presidential summit next week, when Mauricio Macri is received by Michel Temer in Brasilia.

• Thursday, February 2nd 2017 - 11:17 UTC

  Mexico denies Trump threatened to send troops to stop the “bad hombres”

  

  The Mexican government on Wednesday vehemently denied reports that President Trump threatened to send US soldiers into Mexico during a phone call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. Such a threat “did not happen during that call,” said a government statement released on Twitter Wednesday night.

• Monday, January 30th 2017 - 15:51 UTC

  FARC member accused of carrying out 300 abortions extradited from Spain to Colombia

  

  Spain has agreed to extradite to Colombia a former FARC rebel accused of carrying out 300 forced abortions on women fighters, some of them underage. Hector Arboleda Albeidis Buitrago, who has Spanish nationality, was detained in Madrid in December 2015.

• Saturday, January 28th 2017 - 11:40 UTC

  Falklands Today roundtable discussion in Trinidad & Tobago

  

  The Reality of the Falkland Islands Today was the motive of a roundtable discussion at the University of West Indies, St Augustine campus in Trinidad & Tobago. The event took place on Thursday at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, SALISES and was chaired by Acting Director Dr. Roy McCree.

• Saturday, January 28th 2017 - 09:21 UTC

  Trump and Peña Nieto agree to disagree on the wall but will not discuss it publicly

  

  President Donald Trump and Mexico's president, Enrique Peña Nieto, had a “productive and constructive” call on Friday morning, according to a joint statement released by the White House today. The two presidents discussed America's trade deficit with Mexico, “the importance of the friendship between the two nations,” and the need to work together to stop drug trafficking and illegal guns and arms sales, the statement said.

• Friday, January 27th 2017 - 11:23 UTC

  White House considering a 20% tax on all imports to United States

  

  With the conflict with Mexico escalating the White House on Thursday appeared to endorse a 20% tax on all imports to the United States, only to insist a few hours later that it was not endorsing the plan.