
Ambassador Jorge Argüello arrived Thursday to Washington and immediately began activities as head of the Argentine embassy before the US with a first round of talks with members of his staff, according to a release from the embassy.

Lan Chile airlines admitted on Thursday before the Chilean Securities and Exchange Commission that the decision by the Argentina’s Civil Aviation authority, ANAC, to revoke Lan Argentina flight authorizations to Brazil, Paraguay and Chile from Buenos Aires metropolitan airport Jorge Newbery “would not have a relevant financial impact for Lan Airlines at consolidated level

“There are no contacts at all of any kind with the government, they have been all suspended” said on Thursday the Deputy Secretary of the Argentine powerful teamsters union Pablo Moyano when asked about current relations between organized labour and the administration of President Cristina Fernandez.

Argentine President Cristina Fernández had to postpone on Thursday plans to fly to Santa Cruz where she is planning to spend New Year’s Eve with her son and daughter, following an institutional crisis and street rioting that left at least 23 injured and the resignation of several top posts in the provincial administration.

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