
Argentine police detained for questioning a local horse renter in relation to the brutal murder of two French tourists – Moumni Hour and Cassandre Bouvier – found dead with gunshot wounds on Friday at a hiking trail in Quebrada de San Lorenzo, Salta province, 1600 Km northwest of Buenos Aires.

Argentine Chief of Staff, Aníbal Fernández, came on stage Monday after the Buenos Aires City runoff elections to give his breakdown of Sunday’s events which have been described by political analysts a landslide victory for the incumbent mayor Mauricio Macri.

President Barack Obama announced Sunday Republican and Democratic leaders have reached an agreement on raising the US debt limit and avoiding default. He said the deal would cut one trillion dollars of spending over 10 years, and set up a committee to report by November on a proposal to further reduce the deficit.

Making the democratic process more clear and transparent and parliamentary reform were among the main issues debated at the 57th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference CPA, held last week in London and where the Falklands were represented by Dick Sawle, Member of the Islands Legislative Assembly.

Argentina is considering the development of “nuclear propulsion” for its diesel-engine submarines, according to Defence minister Arturo Puricelli. The initiative follows a request from President Cristina Fernandez and is closely linked to Brazil’s construction of a first nuclear powered submersible with French technology.

Brazil reiterated its intention of banning all Falklands’ flagged vessels from calling at the country’s ports and described as “illegal” the current round of oil exploration in the Islands’ waters.

Brazil is prepared for the event of a United States default if no agreement is reached in the US congress on the debt ceiling and will also implement a 30 billion dollars tax relief program to prop Brazilian industry competitiveness, announced Finance minister Guido Mantega.

Close to his first year in office Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has an approval rating of 71%, according to the findings of a public opinion poll released Sunday in the Bogotá media.

Journalists in Latin America are suffering through their most tragic year in two decades, with 19 reporters murdered in nine nations so far in 2011, the Inter-American Press Association said in its latest release.

Police in the Argentine north-west province of Salta reported to have two suspects following a wide search Sunday across the local area of San Lorenzo for the killer of the two French tourists whose bodies were found on Friday, officials reported.