Italy recalled its ambassador to Brazil on Friday after Brasilia refused to extradite a former left-wing guerrilla convicted of four murders. The decision by Brazil's Supreme Court earlier this week to uphold a government refusal to extradite Italian Cesare Battisti, allowing him to walk free, has brought relations between the two countries to a low point.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was not in discussions over the top job at the World Bank and that she was not pursing the post. Clinton is in Zambia as part of a five-day Africa trip that is being overshadowed by news that she had expressed interest in moving to head the World Bank.
Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos signed into law Friday a landmark Victims' Law aimed at redressing the estimated 4 million victims of the country's long-running internal running conflict.
The world's trading nations are succumbing to protectionism in the wake of the global financial crisis, limiting exports of food and raw materials and installing new import barriers, the WTO warned.
By Antonio Tajani - The challenges and opportunities in Latin America are dear to my heart. This is the first time in many years that a European Commissioner for industry heads to the region. And it is not by chance that I strongly wished to go, as this was a priority set in my new mandate.
Visiting Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping signed Wednesday in Uruguay 17 cooperation agreements and trade contracts for the purchase of 530 million US dollars in Uruguayan goods before leaving for Chile the third leg of his tour of Latin America.
Peruvian president-elect Ollanta Humala was received on Thursday with “a wide offer of cooperation in all fields” in Brazil, the first stop in his regional-visits round following his Sunday victory.
The Paraguayan Senate approved the Unasur, Union of South American Nations charter and treaty which were signed by the Executive in May 2008. The next step is in the Lower House which will then formalize Paraguay’s full membership of the group.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon leaves New York on Friday for a week-long trip that will take the United Nations chief to Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, the UN press office reported.
Commenting this week’s resignation of Brazilian chief of staff Antonio Palocci in the midst of a political crisis that has shaken Brazil in the past few days, former president Lula da Silva said that Dilma “had the authority to fire the chief of staff and acted at the right time.”