Bolivian President Evo-Morales has met regional governors to try to resolve deep differences over his plans for constitutional reform. President Morales struck a conciliatory note as he opened the meeting with the nine regional governors.
"When there are no sectarian-ambitions, it's possible to understand each other for the good of the country," he said.
"We all want peace and unity but in a dialogue there are some things that you cannot negotiate, which are principles and laws," Reuters quoted Ruben Costas, the governor of Santa-Cruz province as saying.
Revenues
Mr Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, made rewriting the constitution a key part of his reform agenda to give the indigenous majority greater political power. One of the biggest disputes is over the distribution of revenue from natural gas exports between the regions and the central government.
The lowland regions of Santa Cruz, Beni, Pando and Tarija include the country's vital natural gas reserves and are home to important agribusinesses.
Among the proposals are, two consecutive 5-year terms for presidents, greater state control of the economy and more autonomy for indigenous communities.
Mexican farmers have taken to the streets of Mexico-City to protest the recent lifting of trade barriers that removed the last protections for ancestral Mexican crops like corn.
Farmers & activists from across the nation are demanding that the Mexican government renegotiate the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.
Defending the trade pact, US Ambassador Tony-Garza said that NAFTA's success has inspired other free trade agreements throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Via DW-World
Peru's economy expanded 8.1 percent in November from a year earlier, spurred by a rise in fishing, construction and export manufacturing, the national statistics institute reported.
Rising consumer demand is driving the growth of Peru's gross domestic product for a seventh year, creating jobs amid higher real wages even as inflation accelerates, said Rafael Sanchez, an analyst at Lima-based consultant firm Management & Investment Services.
Growth is driving demand for imported goods, which jumped by one-third to $1.8 billion in November, while exports rose 8 percent to $2.4 billion.
Via Bloomberg
Lofty rhetoric, followed by explosions that blew off parts of a hillside, marked the beginning of a multibillion-dollar expansion of the Panama-Canal on Monday.
The $5.25-billion expansion will accommodate a new class of huge ships capable of carrying more than twice the number of containers as the vessels that currently transit the waterway. Completion is set for 2014 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the inauguration of the original canal.
> Panama begins canal expansion
> In pictures: Panama Canal expansion
