Stories for April 18th 2009
Huge LNG plant ready to open in Chile and cut Argentine dependency
Chile is just months away from beginning operations at a huge Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) re-gasification plant that was first planned during the Ricardo Lagos administration. The 1.1 billion US dollars plant is located near the Region V coastal city of Quintero.
Chavez considering name of the next ambassador in Washington
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said that with President Barack Obama leading the US, strained bilateral relations will improve and revealed he was considering the name of his next ambassador in Washington.
Brazilian agriculture, world’s top consumers of pesticides
Brazil became in 2008 the world's top consumer of agriculture pesticides (ahead of the US), and continues to use a range of dangerous pesticides banned in other countries, according to a study released Friday.
Obama more popular than Chavez in Venezuela, says US top aide
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez rushed a photograph of him and President Obama shaking hands onto his government's website because Mr. Obama is more popular than Mr. Chavez in Venezuela, said Jeffrey Davidow, senior advisor to the US president on Latinamerican affairs.
Climate change could reverse forests’ carbon absorption functions
Forests' role as massive carbon sinks is “at risk of being lost entirely”, top forestry scientists have warned. The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) says forests are under increasing degrees of stress as a result of climate change.
Obama tells Unasur members US and Cuba are “on a path of change”
South American leaders pressed President Barack Obama on Saturday to end the US economic embargo on Cuba and abstain from interventionist policies as he attempts to reshape US hemispheric relations. Obama was quoted saying that the US and Cuba are “on a path of change”
The U shaped “new beginning” table in Port Spain
Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet, pro tempore president of the Union of South American Nations, Unasur, chaired this morning’s closed doors meeting or South American leaders with Barrack Obama.
Agreement on new limits for Antarctica tourism
Countries with ties to Antarctica have adopted US proposals to limit tourism in the region, in a bid to protect the fragile ecosystem of the continent.
All pictures in London and Blackpool “verboten” by British police orders
The Austrian tourists who say they were forced by police to delete images of London buses amid terrorism fears have received help from the UK to recover their lost pictures.
Klaus Matzka and his son were left in shock when police demanded they stopped taking pictures of London buses and delete all such images immediately.
Summit “first step for a new regional order” says Cristina
Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said Friday that the Trinidad and Tobago summit “should be the first step for a new regional order” and recalled the previous summit in Argentina had signalled “an inflection point for the continent”.
