Stories for August 20th 2005
US donates drug control aircrafts to Peru
Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo said Friday that United States had donated two aircrafts to help fight drug trafficking.
Brazilian political crisis impacts financial markets
Brazil's orthodox Finance Minister Antonio Palocci was linked to the corruption scandal of the ruling Workers Party by a former aide who claims he received money from a sanitary company when he was mayor of Ribeirao Preto.
Head of Lucsik group and Chile's richest man dies
Andronico Lucsik, Chile's richest businessman with an estimated fortune of 3,4 billion US dollars, (Forbes magazine), died this week in Santiago at the age of 78.
Carnival launches world's largest cruise vessel
A jumbo cruise vessel launched in Finland Friday dethroned the “Queen Mary 2” as the largest liner afloat, its manufacturers said.
Career diplomat to replace Noriega
United States president George Bush named Tom Shannon as the new of the Deputy Secretary of State for Hemispheric Affairs.
Venezuela plans to increase oil production and refining
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez announced that the government owned oil company, PDVSA, will build three new refineries and said he was willing to discuss a new range of prices with the Oil Producing Export Countries, OPEC
Ecuador's oil production virtually shut down
Ecuador's Defence minister resigned abruptly Friday shortly after the country sent the military to occupy its Amazon region and declared a state of emergency following attacks on infrastructure which cut production 65%.
IMF lowers global growth forecast because of oil
The International Monetary Fund warns that the surge in oil prices has become a serious risk for the global economy, reports the German daily Handesblatt quoting the coming IMF World Economic Outlook.
