South Korean foreign minister rules out renegotiating US trade deal. South Korea's foreign minister ruled out Friday additional negotiations with the United States over a free trade agreement, a day after presidents of the two countries vowed cooperation to push the stalled deal forward.

Brazil's leader urges freeze on Israeli settlements in east Jerusalem. Brazil's President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva is joining his Palestinian counterpart in calling on Israel to stop building new settlements in areas claimed by Palestinians.

Chilean airports resumed normal activity on Friday, after some 2,000 airport workers launched a country-wide strike that caused flight delays, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation said.

Captain Michael Ballack will miss Germany's World Cup warm-up clash on Wednesday against the Ivory Coast as the Chelsea star has failed to recover from a minor knee injury, coach Joachim Loew said.

Germany's football team trained on Monday for the first time since the suicide of goalkeeper Robert Enke, with coach Joachim Loew saying the players were doing their best to return to normality.

Captain Michael Ballack will miss Germany's World Cup warm-up clash on Wednesday against the Ivory Coast as the Chelsea star has failed to recover from a minor knee injury, coach Joachim Loew said.

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - A bronze of a voluptuous nude holding a cigarette and a volcanic landscape strewn with lifeless limbs top this week's Latin American art auctions.

Nations representing 60 percent of global aviation endorsed Monday a plan to liberalize the flagging industry that will drive consolidation and could lead to the emergence of multinational airlines.

Ruby Tuesday inks international franchise agreements in Middle East, U.K.. Casual dining chain Ruby Tuesday Inc. said Monday it had inked new international franchise agreements in the Middle East and the U.K. for its namesake brand.

Carrier Transicold offers new service to keep produce from spoiling in shipping containers. A unit of United Technologies Corp. has launched a service for the container shipping industry aimed at preventing produce from spoiling in transit.

Peru's president rebukes Chile for allegedly buying off Peruvian military officer to spy. Peruvian President Alan Garcia accused Chile of assaulting Peru's sovereignty, throwing his weight behind allegations that Chile paid a Peruvian military officer to spy.

Think twice before investing in these places . Investors spend a good deal of time determining the best places to invest, but do you ever wonder which countries are the worst places in the world to invest? If you invest in mining companies, you should. After all, when you invest in a mining company, you?re not just investing in a company but also the government and communities in which the company is exploring for and developing deposits. So much about the success of a project depends upon the jurisdiction in which it exists that most institutional investors simply won?t put money into a company operating in certain countries. Sure you can find a deposit in Venezuela, for example, but leaders like Hugo Chavez, who are in the habit of decreeing bizarre legislation such as a recent ban on singing in the shower in Venezuela also have a penchant for stealing mineral deposits from whomever they please. The Fraser Institute?s Survey of Mining Companies 2008/2009 is one measure of how mineral

Bayern Munich defender Philipp Lahm will captain Germany in Wednesday's friendly against the Ivory Coast as the national side look to build for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Chile prosecutes leaders of Mapuche Indian uprising with Pinochet-era terrorism law. Small groups of Mapuche Indians have so rattled Chile by seizing forests, burning buses and attacking police to demand land and autonomy that the leftist government has turned to dictatorship-era measures to quell the violence.

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's President Michelle Bachelet on Tuesday condemned as haughty and offensive comments by Peru's leader Alan Garcia over a spy scandal that has stirred century-old tensions between the neighbors.

Peru says it has proof of Chile spying; Chile calls claims offensive. Peruvian officials said Tuesday that an air force officer has confessed to passing national security secrets to Chile, where President Michelle Bachelet denied the espionage allegations, calling them offensive.

Interview with Louis James of the Casey Report . In this exclusive interview with The Gold Report, Louis James, Senior Editor of Doug Casey's International Speculator, reiterates his conviction that the dollar is on death row with no one prepared to grant a stay of execution. Dismal as it is, this situation gives rise to increasingly positive prospects for gold and other commodities that may ultimately stand in as the world's reserve currency. And there are some pretty hot speculative prospects?Louis' "best of the best" ?waiting in the wings for the market's next big leg down that he's been forecasting.

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - A one-ton nude sculpture by Colombian Fernando Botero sold for $1.14 million, outstripping its top rival, a delicate portrait of crumpled paper, in a robust sale of Latin American art in New York.

China to participate in development of giant Hawaii telescope, the world's largest. Chinese astronomers have signed on to participate in the development of the world's largest telescope that will be built atop a Hawaii volcano, a group said Tuesday.

Colombia's top cop: Escobar's son directly involved in drug lord's crimes. Colombia's police director says the son of notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar was directly involved in cartel business, even killings, rejecting the denials of a man whose reappearance is creating a sensation in Colombia 16 years after his father's death.