
A senior lawmaker from the ruling coalition of Argentine President Cristina Kirchner said that the Peronist party in the province of Rio Negro “would stand by” Vice-Governor Alberto Weretilneck, scheduled to take office as provincial governor on Tuesday due to the death of former governor Carlos Soria.

Brazilian plane-maker Embraer will sell its A-29 Super Tucano aircraft to the US Air Force, in a firm-fixed price delivery order contract worth 355 million dollars, the company said in a statement.

Brazil's government may cut as much as much 60 billion Reais (32 billion dollars) from spending in 2012 in an effort to control its deficit and inflation, the Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper reported, citing unnamed Finance Ministry officials.

Brazil's government faces as much as 74 billion Reais (40 billion dollars) of unbudgeted expenses in 2012 stemming from lawsuits awaiting judgement at the country's Supreme Court, the Correio Brasilense newspaper reported on Sunday.

As a demonstration of support for Argentine President Cristina Fernandez who will undergo surgery for a thyroid carcinoma, the youth branch of the ruling Argentine Peronist Party has invited the Argentine people to donate blood to local clinics and hospitals.

Australia’s Malcolm Fraser Government considered taking British refugees from the Falkland Islands at the height of the South Atlantic conflict in 1982, reports the Sydney press based on the release of National Archives.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged in a grave New Year's message to find ways to pull the economy out of stagnation in the four months left before a presidential election and vowed no further public spending cuts.

Europe must cooperate more closely if it wants the Euro to succeed as its shared currency, and it still has a long way to go to overcome its sovereign debt crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her New Year's Eve address.

The New Year marks the 100th Anniversary of Captain Robert Scott’s Antarctic endeavors and his heroic efforts to reach the South Pole, which ultimately led to his team’s tragic demise in 1912.

The Governor of the Argentine Patagonian province of Rio Negro died in the early morning of the first day of 2012 after having allegedly received two shots in the face. Governor Carlos Soria, an ally of President Cristina Fernandez had ended last October 28 years of opposition dominance of his province.