
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.”

The Falkland Islands elected government responded to an Argentine inspired declaration from the Organization of American States, OAS, saying that the Falklands have “a right to self determination” and fully supports the UK government’s resolute position that “the issue of sovereignty is non negotiable”.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced this week leadership changes at the conclusion of the Association’s 67th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and World Air Transport Summit in Singapore.

Broadband telecommunications have the potential to spur rapid economic growth and facilitate job creation, according to a United Nations reported unveiled this week, which urges countries to implement national broadband plans or risk losing the benefits of the global high-speed digital communications.

Spain's dealings with Gibraltar have the overriding objective of recovering sovereignty over the Rock, Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jiménez told parliament in Madrid this week.

The Uruguayan government is trying to decide how to implement a controversial new tax on land holdings involving approximately 60 million dollars per annum and which has exposed deep differences in the ruling coalition, is rejected by farmers and feared by investors.