Africa is now home to 55 billionaires, up from previous estimates of 16-25 billionaires, new research has found. These super rich are worth a combined total of $143.88bn (£89.27bn). The UK, in contrast, is home to 84 billionaires, worth a nearly £250bn, according to the 2013 Sunday Times Rich List.

President Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday that Venezuela will not have cordial relations with the United States as long as U.S. diplomats continue what he alleges are attempts to destabilize his country. He said "new points of contact" can be established, but only if Washington ends such activity. Maduro's tough talk came a day after he announced the expulsion of the top U.S. diplomat in Venezuela, Charge d'Affaires Kelly Keiderling, and two other embassy officials, alleging they conspired with "the extreme right" to sabotage the economy and power grid.

The world has a new global voice, and it belongs to Dilma Rousseff. The Brazilian president’s fiery speech yesterday at the United Nations condemning the US spying program solidified her position on the world’s podium as a civil liberties champion unafraid to stand up to Washington, analysts say.

A group of young Colombian musicians known as “Cantares del Pacifico” is crossing the Atlantic for five days in a cultural exchange of music and dance with the west African nation of Ghana. The visit comes after opening diplomatic relationship between the two countries following the establishment of shared embassy between Colombia, Mexico, Chile and Peru in Ghana under the Cali Declaration made in recent accord with the Pacific Alliance.

Brazil’s plummeting currency and rising consumer prices have been making life difficult for its businesses and citizens, and prolonging its economic funk. But there a signs of gradual improvement. Here are three recent trends in Latin America’s largest economy worth celebrating.

Vice President Biden is heading to Mexico later Thursday to kick off the first-ever high level economic dialogue between the two nations. On his third trip to Mexico, Biden will sit down with President Enrique Peña Nieto as part of the launch of the U.S.-Mexico High Level Economic Dialogue in Mexico City to improve the economic relationship between the two neighbors.

Many accounts of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s decision this week to cancel next month's state visit to the U.S. put it down to simmering outrage over revelations that the U.S. National Security Agency has been tapping the communication channels of top Brazilian officials, starting with hers. In truth, the decision probably has as much to do with politics.

Latin America’s stock markets have provided a nail-biting roller-coaster for investors. Prices roared higher before the global financial crisis in 2007, and then collapsed. They have failed to regain those highs, despite values almost doubling in 2009. This year has been particularly poor. While Western markets have been in buoyant mood in 2013, Latin America shares have fallen by nearly 20pc.