Latin America

• Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 20:51 UTC

  Unasur members will share and disclose data on military expenditure

  

  For the first time ever South American countries will jointly share and disclose data on their military expenditures, according to the Ecuadorian Ministry of Defence. It is anticipated that next March all member countries from Unasur (Union of South American Nations) will make public the information following on this year’s approval of a common methodology to measure Defence expenditure.

• Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 08:45 UTC

  “Mario (Vargas Llosa) the only thing you’re good for is writing”

  

  In his acceptance speech as winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, entitled “In Praise of Reading and Fiction”, (*) Peruvian writer Vargas Llosa paid tribute to his mother, his grandfather Pedro and his uncle Lucho.

• Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 08:28 UTC

  Keiko Fujimori daughter of jailed leader joins Peruvian presidential race

  

  Keiko Fujimori, daughter of jailed former President Alberto Fujimori, joined Peru's presidential race, vowing to make sure the country's economic boom lifts more people out of poverty.

• Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 07:24 UTC

  Uruguay, Mexico and Chile have the most numerous middle-class in Latam

  

  According to the 2011 Latin American Economic Outlook report released on Dec. 3 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Chile has the third highest percentage of middle-class citizens in Latin America.

• Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 07:20 UTC

  Fire in an overcrowded Santiago de Chile jail, kills at least 83 inmates

  

  Fire engulfed a prison in the Chilean capital Santiago Wednesday early in the morning, killing 83 inmates and critically injuring 14 others, the government said, in the worst-ever accident in the country's jail system.

• Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 07:18 UTC

  Heavy rains force temporary suspension of traffic in the Panama Canal

  

  Heavy rains have forced the temporary suspension of traffic along the Panama Canal, the major shipping waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans which handles 5% of global trade.

• Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 07:15 UTC

  Clelia II sailing on her own is expected Friday in Ushuaia

  

  The expedition vessel MV Clelia II is now operating at normal speed during its northbound crossing of the Drake Passage, following heavy sea conditions Tuesday that resulted in a broken bridge window and some electrical malfunctions.

• Tuesday, December 7th 2010 - 08:36 UTC

  Chavez wins regional elections but loses second most populated city, Maracaibo

  

  Candidates from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s party PSUV won seven municipalities and one state in regional polls, the populist socialist leader’s first test since suffering a setback in September legislative elections, state television reported.

• Tuesday, December 7th 2010 - 08:16 UTC

  Chile outlines conditions for a possible Bolivian access to the Pacific

  

  Chile is willing to cooperate with a sea-outlet for landlocked Bolivia but will not cede sovereignty because “we will never accept something that divides the country in two”, said the Chilean Foreign Affairs minister Alfredo Moreno.

• Tuesday, December 7th 2010 - 07:43 UTC

  Wikileaks and Latin America: Same Old Imperious U.S. Diplomats

  

  by Former Senior Research Fellow Nikolas Kozloff
  As more and more documents become available from Wikileaks, the public has gotten a novel and close up view of U.S. diplomats and their operations abroad.