Politics

• Monday, August 20th 2012 - 01:42 UTC

  Ecuador insists in Mercosur interest, but admits it will be a long process

  

  Ecuador has reiterated its intention of joining Mercosur but this needs to be compatible with the rules from the Community of Andean Nations, CAN, (to which it now belongs) said Ecuadorean ambassador Horacio Sevilla Borja.

• Saturday, August 18th 2012 - 06:24 UTC

  Protesting Chilean students occupy main Santiago university despite arrests

  

  Following over a hundred arrests made on Thursday and clashes with police, students in Santiago occupied on Friday the central building of the University of Chile, the country’s most important higher education facility, as the demands to the government over education reform ensue.

• Saturday, August 18th 2012 - 05:57 UTC

  Central bank announces first signs of Brazilian economy recovery

  

  Brazil's economy enjoys sound fundamentals for sustainable growth, with an economic expansion likely to pick up speed in the next few quarters, Central Bank President Alexandre Tombini said at a business conference Friday.

• Saturday, August 18th 2012 - 05:50 UTC

  China’s (and the world) leading bank authorized to operate in Brazil

  

  One of the world’s leading banks, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) has been authorised to operate in Brazil, indicates a Brazilian government decision published on Thursday in the official gazette.

• Saturday, August 18th 2012 - 02:37 UTC

  In nine years of “Kirchner era” Argentina honoured 32 billion dollars in debts

  

  Argentina’s Central bank confirmed that during the “Kirchner era” the country paid 32 billion dollars in pending debts, “the centre piece of the policy to recover sovereignty by cutting indebtedness” and praised the decision to appeal to the bank’s international reserves to support such a policy.

• Saturday, August 18th 2012 - 02:02 UTC

  OAS decides to hold ministerial meeting on Ecuador-UK conflict next week

  

  The Organization of American States (OAS) has scheduled an emergency meeting of its foreign ministers next week to discuss the differences between Ecuador and Britain over the asylum that Quito granted to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

• Friday, August 17th 2012 - 07:16 UTC

  Latam support for Ecuador could turn Assange case in another ‘Falklands issue’ for UK

  

  Another major diplomatic conflict between South America and the UK, as with the Falkland Islands’ sovereignty dispute, could turn nasty following Latinamerican strong support for Ecuador and its granting of political asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and London’s explicit determination to deny him a safe conduct and have him extradited to Sweden.

• Friday, August 17th 2012 - 07:08 UTC

  Falklands’ residents share HMS Dauntless ‘secrets’ during a reception on board

  

  Falkland Islands residents and the local media discovered the ‘secrets’ of ultra modern Type 45 destroyer HMS Dauntless last weekend at Mare Harbour following her journey to the South Atlantic via Africa and a stop off at Tristan da Cunha.

• Friday, August 17th 2012 - 06:56 UTC

  New Dominican president takes office: “my wife will help you look after the place”

  

  Economist Danilo Medina was sworn in on Thursday as the Dominican Republic's new president and pushed for a pact against poverty as he assumed the post. The economist, who belongs to the Dominican Liberation Party of outgoing President Leonel Fernandez, won May 20 election on a promise to raise the country's standard of living.

• Friday, August 17th 2012 - 06:51 UTC

  Buenos Aires most liveable city in Latam, but region scores in the bottom half

  

  Buenos Aires is the most liveable city of Latinamerica followed closely by Santiago de Chile and Montevideo, according to the 2012 report form the Economist Intelligence Unit which ranks the degree of satisfaction and comfort of residents in 140 cities from all over the world based on several factors.