Venezuela's Hugo Chávez said that if an opposition candidate wins this year's presidential election he will be the first to recognize the rival's victory and hand over power.
Uruguayan president Jose Mujica and his host and peer Sebastián Piñera said they are committed to expand and intensify the presence of their countries in Antarctica which they described as a “continent of peace and of the future”.
Bolivian president Evo Morales said the Malvinas Islands are Argentine and gave full support to his peer Cristina Fernandez siding with Mercosur in the dispute with the UK over the South Atlantic Islands sovereignty and the latest decision to bar all Falklands flagged vessels from regional ports.
Brazil's government is ready to respond to Argentine trade restrictions introduced this week but will evaluate the impact of the measures before making any retaliatory moves, trade officials said Friday.
A UK student from Sheffield can be extradited to the US to face copyright infringement allegations, a judge has ruled. Richard O'Dwyer, 23, set up the TVShack website which US authorities say hosts links to pirated copyrighted films and television programs.
Argentine opposition lawmakers presented December’s consumer inflation index based in the analysis of nine private agencies, which showed a 1.9% increase over the previous month and totalling 22.81% for the twelve months of 2011, roughly double the official index.
US President Barack Obama formally notified Congress that he plans a 1.2 trillion dollars increase in the US debt limit, setting the stage for Republicans to level election-year charges that deficits are out of control.
Speaking at a press conference from Washington DC on Thursday, IMF acting director of External Relations Gerry Rice said the organization’s directors “will meet in late January or early February to analyze the progress made in Argentina’s statistics”.
While Argentina’s Mercosur trade partners have adopted a cautious attitude regarding the latest measures that make it more cumbersome and bureaucratic to sell to Argentina, the country’s manufacturers and importers have warned of the consequences and called for a more balanced approach to the issue.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega lashed out at Israel and condemned the killing of former Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi while being sworn into office this week alongside Iran and Venezuela presidents.