Venezuela's opposition cut deep into President Hugo Chávez's majority and standing during last Sunday's local elections when it won five of the country's most populous states as well as the crucial mayor's office of the capital Caracas.
President Hugo Chavez knows just how important Sunday's state and municipal elections are to his own grip on power.
Brazil has recalled its ambassador from Ecuador over the Andean country's suspension of payments on a Brazilian loan worth at least $320 million.
Barack Obama, the US president-elect, has ordered his advisers to produce an economic recovery plan aimed at creating 2.5 million new jobs across the country over the next two years.
Sunday's elections in Venezuela will be a key test for President Hugo Chavez a year after voters defeated his effort to change the constitution which was targeted to ensure his XXI Socialist-Bolivarian revolution.
United States shares rose sharply on Friday following a report that US President-elect Barack Obama has chosen his treasury secretary, reassuring investors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 494 points or 6.5% to end at 8,046.66. The Standard & Poor's 500 climbed 6.3%.
Argentina's Senate passed on Thursday a bill to nationalize the private pension funds system in a move that analysts say could protect the potential beneficiaries from short-term stock market chaos but also limit their long-term retirement income.
New York Senator Hillary Clinton has accepted President-elect Barack Obama's offer of the job of secretary of state. Hillary is expected to accept the position of secretary of state in the Obama Administration. A formal announcement is planned for after Thanksgiving.
COUNCILLOR Mike Summers said he would like the House to send its formal thanks and congratulations to the UK's UN Ambassador in New York, John Sawyer, who, with his team, denied an attempt by Argentina and Spain to propose in the United Nations 4th Committee an amendment, which would have denied the right of self-determination to those countries, where there is a sovereignty conflict.
A commission auditing Ecuador's foreign debt has recommended that the country halt payments on three bonds worth 3.9 billion USD after finding illegalities in the obligations.