
The United States Congress sent a strong letter to Argentine president Cristina Fernandez expressing ‘disappointment’ and ‘deep concern’ over the government’s decision to deny General Prosecutor of the AMIA Case, Alberto Nisman, the opportunity to testify before the House Committee on Homeland Security’.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said his government has received an asylum application from US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden and the fugitive must now decide if he wants to fly to Caracas.

Bolivia demanded France, Portugal, Spain and Italy reveal who told them that former US spy agency contractor Edward Snowden was aboard President Evo Morales' flight from Moscow last week.

The US State Department spokesperson during the daily briefing declined to comment on the alleged intelligence activity in Brazil but admitted dialogue with the Brazilians through normal diplomatic channels, but those conversations ‘of course we would keep private’.

Brazil began an investigation Monday into whether telecommunications firms operating in the country cooperated with the U.S. as part of a spying program that has collected data on billions of telephone and email conversations. Anatel, the government agency that regulates the telecom sector in Brazil, said in a note that it's working with federal police and other government agencies on the investigation.

Lawmakers in Brazil said Monday they want to question Washington's ambassador here about revelations that the United States has collected and stored the e-mail and telephone records of millions of Brazilians.

Brazil will demand an explanation from the United States over reports its citizens' electronic communications have been under surveillance by US spy agencies for at least a decade, foreign minister Antonio Patriota said on Sunday.

Presidents Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela said Friday they were willing to grant asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden. The NSA whistleblower has asked for asylum in several countries, including Nicaragua and Venezuela.

The US economy added a net 195,000 new jobs in June, official figures show. The figure was well above economists' expectations of 165,000. Revisions to data for April and May added a further 70,000 jobs to previous estimates. This means the jobless rate remained steady at 7.6% of the workforce, according to data from the Bureau of Labour Statistics.

Amidst Independence Day celebrations, US ambassador in Argentina Vilma Martínez bid farewell to her post after almost four years in office, assuring that the relationship between both countries “has been strengthened.”