When an Internet research group recently released a study concluding that the most influential person in the Twitter universe was Rafinha Bastos, a Brazilian comedian ...the English-speaking world was predictably baffled.

The U-20 is Colombia’s biggest-ever international sports event. This time around, the country is embracing the challenge. The games will be played in Bogota, Medellin, Cartagena and five other cities and watched on TV by 500 million people around the world. Spectators will learn about the country’s improved security, booming economy and natural beauty.

Recent months have seen an avalanche of new lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)-friendly initiatives in Rio: vocational training courses for transvestites, anti-bullying projects aimed at gay and lesbian students and new legislation outlawing discrimination in the city's nightclubs.

Globally, Yoani Sánchez’s blog, is available in a score of languages and gets up to 14 million visits a month. Within Cuba, though, the dictatorship of Fidel and Raúl Castro has from the start sought to silence her and prevent other Cubans from reading what she calls her “little vignettes of reality.”

The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announced today a partnership with USA Volleyball that will bring 50 volleyball coaches to the United States from Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Trinidad and Tobago. The delegation will will meet with their U.S. counterparts and participate in coaching seminars and clinics.

Chinese investment is flooding into Argentina as the Asian giant expands its global commodity hunt from the raw materials used in industry to the foodstuffs needed to feed its 1.3 billion citizens. During the last three years, more than 70% of China's investment in the region went to energy and minerals, but farming is attracting more attention as the country seeks to fill its bowls from foreign fields.

Memphis Grizzlies guard Greivis Vasquez is in Venezuela this week as part of a State Department "sports diplomacy" effort at a time of icy relations between the two countries. Vasquez, a Venezuelan citizen, is teaming with former NBA player Darvin Ham...

For Peru's outgoing president it is the realisation of a personal dream. Alan García says the construction of the world's tallest statue of Jesus, on a hill in the capital overlooking the ocean, will "bless Peru and protect Lima". Its resemblance to Rio's Corcovado statue is no coincidence, but the unexpected gift has generated anger.