The United States Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that companies cannot patent parts of naturally-occurring human genes, a decision with the potential to profoundly affect the emerging and lucrative medical and biotechnology industries.
Peruvian president Ollanta Humala said he favoured the incorporation of the United States as observer to the Alliance of the Pacific, a free trade, pro-business and open market group made up of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
President Barack Obama welcomed Peruvian counterpart Ollanta Humala to the White House on Tuesday, in Washington's latest effort to meet a deadline to seal a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. Humala praised the Obama administration for its open attitude in addressing strategic issues.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, a refugee for almost a year at the Embassy of Ecuador in London, is recommending that Edward Snowden, 29, seek refuge in Latin America.
An ex-CIA employee has said he acted to protect basic liberties for people around the world in leaking details of US phone and internet surveillance. Edward Snowden, 29, was revealed as the source of the leaks at his own request by the UK's Guardian newspaper.
Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's On Monday upgraded its credit outlook for the United States government to stable from negative, saying the chances of a downgrade of the country's rating is less than one in three.
US spy chief James Clapper has admitted the government collects communications from internet firms, but says the policy only targets non-US persons. The director of national intelligence was responding to articles about an alleged secret programme, Prism.
Major tech companies including Apple Inc, Google and Facebook Inc said they do not provide any government agency with “direct access” to their servers, contradicting a Washington Post report that they have granted such access under a classified data collection program.
The United States is to start a dialogue with Venezuela aimed at restoring their respective ambassadors, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said. He was speaking after Venezuela freed and deported a US filmmaker who had been held on conspiracy charges. Mr Kerry welcomed Timothy Tracy's release as a positive development.
“The time for rhetoric exercises has run out”, said Uruguayan former president Tabare Vazquez during a presentation before the Latin American Studies Association, LASA, in Washington where he emphasized the need for Latinamerican countries to advance in agreements with the United States.