Latin America

• Tuesday, April 24th 2012 - 20:51 UTC

  Cuba plans private sector to take over 50% of the economy in five years

  

  Cuba will move nearly 50% of the state's economic activity to the “non-state” sector a senior Communist party official said, the latest signal the island is headed toward a mixed economy.

• Tuesday, April 24th 2012 - 06:31 UTC

  Three Chilean universities among top 100 in Latam; two Brazilian and a Mexican rank first

  

  Three Chilean research universities have placed in the top 100 Latin American universities, according to a new study released last week by Iberoamericano SIR 2012.

• Tuesday, April 24th 2012 - 06:28 UTC

  Independent press and journalists, targets of state controlled media in Latam

  

  The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) concluded on Monday its half-yearly meeting, held in Cádiz, Spain, with ratification of its conclusions, in which it declared that: “The main problems facing the press in the Americas are crimes against journalists for the sole fact that they are performing their work under governments of democratic origin, but which are authoritarian and use state-controlled media to persecute and defame the independent press”.

• Tuesday, April 24th 2012 - 05:09 UTC

  Brazil/US defence summit to consider military technology transfer and South Atlantic

  

  Brazil wants the US to eliminate barriers to the transfer of military technology, an issued that will be addressed on Tuesday April 24, in Brasilia when US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta meets with his peer Celso Amorim.

• Tuesday, April 24th 2012 - 03:50 UTC

  Former Beatle Paul breaks all records in Uruguay including with the taxman

  

  Former Beatle Paul McCartney paid almost 2.3 million dollars in national and municipal taxes during his only performance in Uruguay last April 15, which was considered by far the most spectacular concert in recent times in the country.

• Tuesday, April 24th 2012 - 01:59 UTC

  Chile begins implementing education reforms demanded by massive student protests

  

  The state, not banks, are to fund higher education scholarships through the creation of a new specialized government agency, Chile’s Education minister, Harald Beyer, announced in a press conference at La Moneda on Monday.

• Tuesday, April 24th 2012 - 01:51 UTC

  Colombia offers to mediate in the YPF conflict between Argentina and Spain

  

  Colombia is available to mediate between Spain and Argentina to find a solution to the dispute over the seizure of YPF from Repsol, said Colombian Vice-president Angelino Garzón.

• Tuesday, April 24th 2012 - 01:23 UTC

  Spain’s Repsol threatens companies investing in seized YPF with legal actions

  

  Spain’s main oil corporation Repsol warned it could take legal action against companies that invest in YPF after Argentina seized control of the Spanish company's energy unit last week.

• Tuesday, April 24th 2012 - 01:09 UTC

  Setback for Spain: EU confirms trade talks with Mercosur, including Argentina

  

  A member of the European Union assured it is not possible to negotiate an agreement between the EU and Mercosur without Argentina, as the Spanish Government planned after the country’s decision to expropriate YPF.

• Tuesday, April 24th 2012 - 00:58 UTC

  Chavez blasts “psychological rumours warfare” and says on Thursday he returns to Venezuela

  

  A healthy-sounding President Hugo Chávez called Venezuelan state television from Cuba on Monday to dispel rumours fanned by a nine-day silence that he had died undergoing cancer treatment at a hospital in Havana.