Stories for June 15th 2008
Argentina farm strike flares again after crackdown
A three-month standoff between Argentina's government and farmers over a tax hike turned violent on Saturday when military police in riot gear used batons to try to clear roadblocks on a main highway.
The Group of Eight (G8) concludes no quick fix for oil prices
There are no quick fixes to soaring oil and food prices, Group of Eight finance ministers concluded on Saturday, although disagreements emerged about the role that speculators were playing in exacerbating price rises.
Southern Chile volcano erupts with renewed strength
The Chaiten volcano in southern Chile has erupted with renewed strength, belching thick clouds of ash and hurling molten rocks into the air, regional authorities said Friday.
Paraguay's future cabinet blends continuity &renewal
Paraguay's president-elect Fernando Lugo whose historic election ended six decades of one-party rule in the country named a former leftist militant to head his Cabinet when he takes office on August 15.
Over 90 bulk grain carriers queuing in the River Plate
The Argentine farmers' conflict has the River Plate packed with grain bulk carriers waiting to load in Buenos Aires and Rosario (up the river Parana). An estimated 90 vessels are queuing with the tail reaching the access to the port of Montevideo, in neighboring Uruguay.
Chavez names new Finance minister ahead of by-election
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez named on Sunday Ali Rodriguez, a trusted ally who has also served as head of state oil company PDVSA, as Minister of Finance. Rodriguez is currently ambassador in Cuba and was once secretary general of OPED and has also held the post of Foreign Affairs minister.
Saudi Arabia will pump 200.000 bpd of extra oil next July
Saudi Arabia plans to increase its oil production by 200.000 barrels a day next month, the kingdom's oil minister told U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Sunday, according to Ban's spokesman. By July Saudi Arabia's output should be almost 10 million bpd.
US currency gaining lost ground in Chile: 500 pesos per dollar
The US dollar is expected to open with a strong push in the Chilean money market on Monday having closed on Friday above the benchmark of 500 Chilean pesos, the highest so far this year.
Formal end to oil companies proxy Chaco War 1932/35
Argentina will hand Paraguay and Bolivia the Limits Act which contains the final territorial and fluvial borders which emerged from the Chaco War, fought 73 years ago between the two landlocked and poorest countries of the continent.
Irish-vote shocked Europe meets to decide what next
European Union foreign affairs ministers are gathering in Luxembourg for talks on how to respond to the Irish rejection of the Lisbon reform treaty. Voters in the Irish Republic, the only state to hold a referendum on Lisbon, rejected the treaty by 53.4% to 46.6% last Thursday.
