On the last day of her South America trip, President Park Geun-hye met with around 2-hundred Korean emigrants in Sao Paulo, an economic hub in Brazil, the seventh largest economy in the world.  More than 50-thousand Koreans call the city home, making it the largest Korean community in Brazil.

On Tuesday, the Limón company was announced as one of three companies selected for the fifth iteration of DanceMotion USA, an initiative of the State Department, produced in partnership with the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Joining the Limón company are Dance Heginbotham and Bodytraffic, a Los Angeles troupe.

This month’s summit, held in Beijing, certainly moved the bloc further in that direction. Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to double Chinese trade with the Celac countries over the coming decade and to invest $250 billion across the region. Ecuador’s Rafael Correa left the summit with more than $7 billion in new Chinese aid and credit, while Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro received much-needed pledges of investment from China’s state-run Bank of China and China Development Bank.

The U.S. Department of State and Major League Baseball are entering a new era of “diamond diplomacy” in the Western Hemisphere. In a renewed partnership with Major League Baseball, current professional baseball players will accompany Olympic softball stars to Colombia and Panama to serve as Sports Envoys. The U.S. Department of State recognizes the unique ability of America’s national pastime to connect with youth throughout the Western Hemisphere, as baseball enjoys an especially ardent following in Central and South America.

The gastronomic fair is part of the Peruvian "food boom" that's put Lima on the map for epicurean excellence,according to The Wall Street Journal and others. The festival has grown from just 30,000 attendees back in its first year, 2008, to an estimated 600,000 this year. Indeed, food may be the country's greatest passion. 

A couple of weeks ago you may remember I brought to you the story of 20 international delegates from countries in Asia, Africa and South America who were visiting Central Queensland to see how we manage the social and environmental impact of mining.

For the Argentine Francis, who was chosen to lead the world’s Catholics in part because of his allure for people in South America, a stronghold of the faith, South Korea presents an important test of whether his popularity there and in the United States and parts of Europe transfers to Asia.