Latin America

• Wednesday, October 19th 2011 - 15:16 UTC

  The Economist: Latin American universities far from excellence in higher education

  

  The Economist has an interesting article, and comments, on the quality of higher education in Latin America based on the latest ratings from UK, US and Chinese education consultancies.

• Tuesday, October 18th 2011 - 20:40 UTC

  Human rights commission calls on Morales to protect Amazon Indian tribes

  

  The Inter American Human Rights Commission called on the Bolivian government to protect the indigenous tribes protesting the construction of a road crossing their reservation, following on reports of use of excess of force by the police in charge of containing the protest march.

• Tuesday, October 18th 2011 - 18:57 UTC

  Beware of self-complacency Iglesias tells Latin American leaders

  

  The Ibero-American summit scheduled for October 28/29 in Paraguay will be ‘much dominated’ by current global events said Secretary General Enrique Iglesias who also warned on the risks of self-complacency in Latin America.

• Tuesday, October 18th 2011 - 18:42 UTC

  As volcanic ash cloud recedes air traffic returning to normal in Argentina and Uruguay

  

  Regular operations have gradually resumed at the main airports of Buenos Aires and in Montevideo’s Carrasco air terminal, where most flights had been cancelled since Sunday due to ash cloud generated from Chile's volcano eruption, authorities said.

• Tuesday, October 18th 2011 - 17:04 UTC

  Rioting in Santiago on the first of a two-day national strike in support of students’ demands

  

  Chilean students have erected fiery blockades in major streets of the capital and clashed with police on Tuesday, first day of a two-day national strike to demand that the government reform the education system.

• Tuesday, October 18th 2011 - 15:33 UTC

  Bolivians reject Morales judicial reforms: 60% spoiled or left ballots blank

  

  Bolivian President Evo Morales suffered a major setback on Sunday when many Bolivians spoiled or left their ballots blank in the first elections for the country’s top judges, La Razon reported.

• Tuesday, October 18th 2011 - 08:49 UTC

  Supreme Court knocks out main challenger to President Chavez re-election

  

  Venezuela's Supreme Court blocked high-profile opposition challenger Leopoldo López on Monday from running against President Hugo Chávez in a 2012 vote despite an international ruling in his favour.

• Tuesday, October 18th 2011 - 07:06 UTC

  Chilean mountains hold the world’ largest space research infrastructure

  

  The Chilean Foreign Ministry officially signed over a total of 213 square miles of land to the European Organization for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere (ESO) last Thursday to begin construction of the world’s largest optical telescope, the European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT).

• Monday, October 17th 2011 - 21:53 UTC

  Military draft for 57.000 18-year olds in Chile, alleging students’ disruption

  

  Chile is giving nearly 57.000 18-year-olds one month to report for potential military duty, saying the government needs to fill gaps in its armed forces because a nationwide student protest movement has reduced the number of volunteers it usually gets.

• Monday, October 17th 2011 - 21:36 UTC

  Chile not immune but has “the tools to mitigate possible impacts”

  

  Chile’s central bank and government have monetary and fiscal instruments to respond if growth moderates faster than forecast amid concern over the European debt crisis, bank board member Rodrigo Vergara said.