Mid-Atlantic and North Eastern states are digging out from the snow, while the Southern Hemisphere enjoys its summer.
Just as they do every year.
Here are the week’s headlines:
ARGENTINA:
Macri at Davos: For the first time in a decade, an Argentine president visits the World Economic Forum. Argentina Eyes $20 Billion in Investment in 2016, Macri Says
BRAZIL
Another Capt. Louis Renault moment: Brazil’s Former President Defends His Handpicked Successor, and Himself. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva vows to preserve legacy of Workers’ Party, credited for taking millions out of poverty
CHILE
Chile losing ground as top copper producer as metal price in the pits
COLOMBIA
A new plan for Colombia: Juan Manuel Santos seeks support for peace in Washington. I’ll be very surprised if Uribe shows up,
All being well, the talks will culminate in an agreement by March 23rd, and the FARC’s demobilisation. So it is appropriate that Barack Obama has invited Messrs Santos, Uribe and Pastrana to Washington on February 4th to commemorate “15 years of bipartisan co-operation through Plan Colombia”, along with George W. Bush and Mr Clinton. Mr Pastrana, a largely forgotten figure, was quick to accept. The election campaign in the United States may make it hard for Messrs Bush and Clinton to do so. According to Semana, a newsweekly, Mr Uribe, too, may stay away, vitiating one of the meeting’s tacit aims—to shore up bipartisanship in Colombia
Bomb Sniffing Dog Dies but Saves 30 Soldiers in Colombia
ECUADOR
Zika virus: women in Colombia, Ecuador and El Salvador advised to postpone pregnancy
Recommendation made by countries’ health ministers after sharp increase in babies born with brain defects in Brazil as US extends travel warning for pregnant women
GUANTANAMO
Tariq Mahmoud Ahmed al Sawah: Obama releases top al Qaeda explosives expert from Guantanamo
HAITI
Haiti elections postponed a third time
GUATEMALA
11 Guatemalan Soldiers Indicted for Disappearances of 558 Indigenous People
Thousands of Americans Losing Jobs as Factories Shutter, Move to Mexico
A cry from Tamaulipas, Mexico: Life in a Militarized State
Lucero Sanchez: ‘El Chapo’ Mexico: Regional lawmaker quizzed over ‘jail visit’
PANAMA
Panama Canal sets sights on transshipment tied to new locks
- Paraguay took home the number one spot after almost doubling tourism numbers and welcoming 1.28million guests
- United Nations World Travel Organisation released the list revealing where tourism levels rose fastest in 2015
- The countries making up the top 17 include the Seychelles, Tajikistan, Sri Lanka, Japan, Niue and Colombia
PERU
Archaeologists find remains of women sacrificed 1,000 years ago in Peru
PUERTO RICO
Some days Capt. Louis Renault works overtime:
Talks to Restructure Puerto Rico Power Company’s Debt Collapse
The creditors blamed the utility, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or Prepa, for the collapse of the talks, saying its officials had decided to let an expiration date pass without taking action. Prepa is one of the largest single issuers of Puerto Rico’s $72 billion debt, most of it in the form of municipal bonds.
URUGUAY
Omar Abdelahdi Faraj: AP source: Ex-Guantánamo detainee arrested in domestic violence case in Uruguay. The captive was freed to Uruguay in December 2014
