
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that he is recovering “favourably” from the “impacts” of his fourth and latest round of chemotherapy, although he admitted that he feels that his physical strength is “a little diminished”.

For the first time ever the 131 Foreign Affaire ministers from the countries in the G77 coalition plus China urged the United Kingdom to return to negotiations with Argentina over the sovereignty of the Falklands/Malvinas Islands, the Argentine Foreign Ministry informed on Sunday.

Thoroughly aware of the sheer volume of work involved in politics at the recent Commonwealth Youth Parliament (CYP), Nadia Smith said such a high level career may not be for her just yet, “but there was a strong possibility the Falklands Legislative Assembly may beckon one day.”

Four Latin American countries, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico, have been identified among the seven most important countries on the UN Human Rights Council, in a report by the Human Rights Watch organisation.

Vladimir Putin declared he was ready to return to the Russian presidency after current head of state Dmitry Medvedev announced he would bow to his mentor at March's election.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he expected the Security Council to finish debating his nation's application for full UN membership within weeks, not months.

The Quartet of Middle East negotiators urged Israel and the Palestinians on Friday to resume peace talks within one month and aim for a deal by the end of 2012.

A US federal judge in Miami on Friday sentenced the Bolivian former anti-drugs chief to 14 years prison on drug trafficking charges, court sources said. General Rene Sanabria, who was President Evo Morales's top anti-drug official 2007-2008, was arrested in Panama last February and extradited to Miami to face the charges.

The United Nations Committee on migrant workers expressed concern at Argentina’s “discriminatory attitudes” against citizens from African countries, particularly Senegal and neighbouring countries Bolivia and Paraguay.

Icebreaker HMS Protector, formerly MV Polarbjørn, has spent the spring and summer steadily being converted into a hydrographic survey ship to plug the gap left by HMS Endurance which nearly sank during a flooding incident in late 2008.