
With only two and a half months left for October 3 presidential election the ruling party candidate, Dilma Rousseff and Jose Serra from the opposition remain in a technical tie according to an opinion poll released over the weekend. The Datafolha poll showed Rousseff with 36% of voter intention against 37% for former Sao Paulo state Governor Serra.

Uruguay and Argentina continued on Friday working to reach an agreement for the joint monitoring of the Uruguay River, with the goal of overcoming the long-standing conflict over the Botnia/UPM pulp mill.

Colombia insisted Friday that no reply has been given yet to “the heart of the matter” in the diplomatic row with Venezuela and those are the claims of ‘tolerated’ Colombian guerrilla presence in Venezuelan territory. Bogotá also recalled that all mediations and dialogue proposals so far have been “unfruitful”.

Former Argentine president and Union of South American Nations, Unasur chairman Nestor Kirchner will hold talks during early August with the presidents of Venezuela and Colombia in an attempt to mediate an understanding between the two countries, according to reports from the Argentine government news agency Telam.

An ‘ultra K’ as the most dedicated supporters of Argentina’s ruling couple Kirchner are identified, will most probably be the next ambassador in Montevideo, according to press reports on both sides of the River Plate.

Seven of the 91 European banks that underwent stress tests have failed the health-checks, the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) has said. They include five Spanish banks - Diada, Espiga, Banca Civica, Unnim and Cajasur. The other two were Germany's Hypo Real Estate and Greece's ATEbank.

The Spanish government approved Friday a sweeping reform of the Ministries of Industry and Foreign Affairs which included the elimination of the State Secretary for Ibero-America.

Trading in natural resources creates a great many challenges both for importing and exporting countries and governments need to cooperate more intensively if these challenges are to be adequately addressed, according to World Trade Organization economists.

Brazil's President Lula da Silva broke down to tears in front of the TV cameras during an interview with Brazilian network TV Record when the popular leader recapped some of his administration's social achievements.

Obama administration warned the US economy had encountered strong headwinds and the country's fiscal challenge remained grave, but it lowered an estimate for the budget deficit this year.