
Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela are the countries which most reduced inequality and poverty during the last decade in Latinamerica, according to Alicia Bárcena, executive secretary from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Cepal.

In a dramatic speech to the National Assembly Cuba’s Raul Castro said he wasn’t elected to restore capitalism nor to surrender Socialism but admitted that “too much secrecy and too many lies” had taken the revolution to a critical situation: “either we rectify or we will plunge from the cliff and the efforts of entire generations would be lost”.

Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru are expected to recognize the state of Palestine with its borders prior to 1967, following the recent announcements from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and last week Bolivia, according to Palestine sources.

German tax authorities recovered 1.6 billion Euros this year from citizens who had stashed their cash in secret accounts in Liechtenstein and Switzerland, according to the weekly Der Spiegel.

Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe considered allowing the U.S. military access to Colombian bases as a way to deter possible Venezuelan attacks, a leaked cable from then-Ambassador to Bogotá William Brownfield says.

Conflicting assessments of Argentina’s military capacity, defence policies and future planning were given by the brand-new Defence minister, Arturo Puricelli and a former minister from the opposition.

*By Sameer Jafri - Year 2010 marks sixty years of diplomatic relationship between India and China. Though the relations between the two go back to ancient times, the period since 1950 till present is mainly fraught with boundary dispute, which also led to a short-lived war in 1962. But in recent times, both sides have successfully attempted to normalize the bilateral relationship, mainly driven by the mounting bilateral trade.

The former archbishop of Concepción, Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, has been named as the new archbishop of Chile’s capital Santiago. He will replace cardinal Francisco Javier Errázuriz Ossa.

At least fourteen presidents, including Colombia’s Juan Manuel Santos and Venezuela’ Hugo Chavez, and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have confirmed they will be present next January first in Brasilia when Dilma Rousseff takes office as Brazil’s first woman president.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has joined forces with France and Germany to demand a real-terms freeze in the European Union budget until the end of the decade.