
The government of President Michelle Bachelet on Thursday apologized in the name of the Chilean state to the indigenous Mapuche tribe for taking their lands and said it has a pending debt in terms of public policies that will allow the La Araucania region, where 600,000 of the Indians live, to emerge from poverty.

The historic emblems of Peronism, which has dominated Argentine politics since mid XXth century, have now their representation, Russian style in local 'mamushkas' the egg shaped dolls that fit into one another, apparently promoted by the political group that responds to President Cristina Fernandez son, Maximo Kirchner, as reported by the Buenos Aires press.

Reaffirming his austere and simple style – no mass celebrations have been scheduled in the Vatican to mark the first anniversary of his papacy – Francis chose a social network to address Catholics and renew his “Pray for me” message.

Internet firms Alibaba and Tencent have been shortlisted as pioneers of a pilot scheme to set up private banks in China, as the country takes steps to open up its financial sector. A total of ten companies have been selected to set up private banks.

US state of Colorado collected 2 million dollars in taxes from newly legalized recreational marijuana businesses in January. Colorado became the first US state to legalize the commercial sale of cannabis in 2012, and stores opened for business on 1 January 2014.

British Minister of State for the Foreign Office Hugo Swire has stated London would rather sit at the negotiating table with Argentine opposition presidential hopefuls Sergio Massa or Mauricio Macri to discuss Falklands/Malvinas Islands sovereignty.

A former Marxist guerrilla leader won El Salvador's presidential election by a margin of less than one quarter of one percentage point, according to final results released on Thursday, but the right-wing rival continued to press to have the vote annulled.

United States House Speaker John Boehner invited Pope Francis to address a joint session of Congress - an unprecedented event - during an expected visit to the United States next year. Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have quickly sought to invoke the popular pontiff's devotion to the poor.

The Argentine mining sector is expected to invest 3.85 billion dollars this year, including 800 million as imports' substitutes, announced Planning minister Julio de Vido, who also revealed that in the last ten years the sector has invested over 11bn dollars and generates an activity equivalent to 3.2% of GDP.

Investment inflows into Brazil remain strong so far in March, central bank president Alexandre Tombini said on Wednesday, adding that 9.2 billion dollars entered the country in the form of portfolio and foreign direct investments in February.