Daily Headlines: July 17, 2013

* Cuba: The Cuban government admitted that military equipment found on a North Korean-flagged ship seized by Panamanian authorities belonged to them but the weapons were “obsolete” and were being sent for repair.

* Latin America: Brazil’s foreign minister claimed that the Mercosur trading bloc would rely less on foreign technology in light of recent allegations of U.S. government surveillance in Latin America.

* Argentina: U.S.-based Chevron signed a $1.24 billion deal to develop the world’s second-largest shale gas deposit and fourth-largest shale oil reservoir.

* Colombia: President Juan Manuel Santos deemed as “a great step towards peace” his meeting yesterday with thirty members of an ELN guerilla unit who gave up their arms.

Video Source – YouTube via euronews

Online Sources- LAHT; Bloomberg; USA TODAY; Xinhua; The Latin Americanist