
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Standing Committee from the Latin American parliament, Parlatino, approved a resolution in support of the Argentine government decision to seize a majority stake in YPF from Spain’s Repsol, according to a release made public over the weekend.

Peruvian President Ollanta Humala said on Friday that US-based Newmont Mining should carry out a more ambitious environmental mitigation plan if it hopes to build its 4.8 billion dollars Conga gold mine project.

Brazilian Finance minister Guido Mantega said on Friday that IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde makes a mistake in recommending emerging countries not to intervene in the money exchange markets to counter the strong devaluation of currencies from the rich countries.