
Some 8 million people received emails from the New York Times on Thursday offering a special discount if they would reconsider their decision to cancel their subscriptions.

President Hugo Chavez Venezuela is on track to set a new record for murders and to remain South America's most violent country, according to data released by a crime watchdog. The Venezuela Violence Monitor (OVV) said this week that 19 336 people had been murdered in 2011, an average of 53 per day in a country of 29 million.

Hasan Tuluy, a Turkish national and a strong supporter of inclusive growth, will become the new World Bank Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) as of January 1st, 2012. Mr. Tuluy will oversee the Bank’s lending, knowledge, and poverty-fighting operations in the region, which totalled 9.6 billion dollars in fiscal year 2011.

The Cuban regime and the ruling Communist Party are preparing a grand-national conference to try and change the “mentality” of Cubans so that the capitalist-oriented economic reforms and timid political changes sponsored by President Raul Castro are better understood and accepted, according to party sources.

Making a film about an iconic politician like Britain's Margaret Thatcher is akin to walking into a movie minefield, and casting an American -- even one as revered as Meryl Streep -- is asking for more trouble.

A majority of the ruling Conservative Party members believe Britain should leave the European Union, according to an opinion poll. A survey of party members by the ConservativeHome website for The Independent found 54% would favour ending Britain’s EU membership and signing up to a free-trade agreement

Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff will be celebrating on Sunday her first of four years in office with a record public opinion support of 72%, based on a sober and firm style in running what has become the world’s sixth largest economy.

The Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad will be travelling to Latinamerica in the second week of January 2012 to visit Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador, announced the Teheran presidential office, according to a report from the official news agency FNA.

The Spanish king's son-in-law was charged Thursday in a fraud and embezzlement case that has damaged the royal family, which this week took the unprecedented step of disclosing its income.

In its latest article on Argentina The Economist refers to the recent Mercosur decision to support President Cristina Fernandez in barring vessels flying the Falklands’ flag from docking in regional ports.
The magazine as the heading says (Argentina and the Falklands: rocking the boat) describes it as another diplomatic victory for Cristina and also argues that both the Falkland Islands and Britain have failed to explain their case to the rest of South America.