
United States federal law requiring large graphic health warnings on cigarette packaging and advertising does not violate the free speech rights of tobacco companies, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday.

The economy of Latin America and the Caribbean should grow 3.6% this year, down from recent rates above 5% as slower expansion in China, a soft recovery in the US and debt woes in Europe weigh on the global economy.

Cuban authorities detained on Sunday about 70 members of the dissident group Ladies in White, drawing fresh attention to human rights issues days ahead of a visit by Pope Bendict XVI.

Next April 9 Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is expected in the White House and although formally relations are ‘excellent’, Brazil and the US have many dissenting issues, according to Andres Oppenheimer from the Miami Herald and considered an expert in Latin American affairs from the US perspective.

Uruguay is likely to be the next Latin American country to win an investment grade rating from Moody's Investors Service, with a review likely late this year, a senior officer from the ratings agency said on Sunday.

“You were right, or at least that is what Argentines I come across in the street tell me”, said former Uruguayan president Jorge Batlle. In effect Batlle became world famous in 2002 for his phrase describing the River Plate neighbours: “Argentines are a bunch of crooks, from the first to the last, from A to Z”.

Uruguay’s Economy minister Fernando Lorenzo called on other members of Unasur, Union of South American Nations, to ensure free trade in the region as a safeguard and guarantee for the sustained growth of country-members in time.

Especially aggravated murder charges were filed against two male nurses Sunday and a female nurse was charged with covering up a crime in a case involving more than a dozen deaths at two Uruguayan hospitals, judicial officials said.

Chilean Minister of Economy Pablo Longueira announced on Sunday that Punta Arenas in the extreme south of the country which recently suffered a barrage of flash floods will be declared “catastrophe zone”.

Some Venezuelans cannot get enough of Nelson Bocaranda, a mild-mannered radio reporter and gossip columnist who has been dishing up inside information on President Hugo Chavez’s cancer.