
The Organization of American States, OAS, member countries and the business sector agreed in Lima, Peru on the need to strengthen and instigate the alliance between the public and private sectors in order to promote democracy, social equality and responsibility, and the fight against crime.

President Hugo Chavez announced plans Sunday to take over more private companies in Venezuela and also said his government should review the use of water by trans-national companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

The Group of 20 nations failed over the weekend to agree on a proposal to impose a global tax on banks that was aimed at making the financial industry shoulder the cost of bailouts, settling instead for a common set of guidelines.

A member from the campaign team of Brazilian presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff was forced to resign over the weekend because of an alleged espionage plan to tap information from the main opposition hopeful Jose Serra.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived Sunday night in Lima, Peru, for her second trip to the region this year. Ms Clinton will be participating on Monday in the two-day Organization of American States General Assembly hosted by Peru.

Chile has decided to celebrate its 200th birthday over four days as opposed to the two given to its usual birthdays. The legislature has approved a proposal to convert both the Friday before and the Monday after Saturday September 18 into official public holidays.

Removing fiscal stimulus, absorbing capital flows and reducing unemployment are the main challenges facing Latinamerican and Caribbean countries as the global crisis recedes, said IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn during this recent visit to South America.

Uruguay plans to sell about 1 billion US dollars of bonds next year, including 500 million of dollar- denominated debt, said Carlos Steneri, director of public credit at the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Uruguayan president Jose Mujica, 75, formally declared to the Transparency and Public Ethics commission that his entire wealth amounts to a 1987 Volkswagen Beatle valued at about 1.900 US dollars.

The IMF is sending a senior official to Hungary for talks with the new government early next week, amid rising concerns about the country's public finances.