Stories for February 13th 2010

Saturday, February 13th 2010 - 07:57 UTC
Rio’s Carnival takes off: “I order everyone to have fun”

Rio do Janeiro's four-day Carnival officially kicks off Saturday with a long list of celebrities in town to watch the main event, which this year is dominated by a row over a seven-year-old girl joining the ranks of the sexy adult samba queens.
Saturday, February 13th 2010 - 07:54 UTC
Brazil and Chile’s president elect support Insulza as OAS chief

Brazil’s Foreign Secretary Celso Amorim said that The Washington Post criticisms of the Organization of American States, OAS, Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza are “totally without foundation” and reiterated Brazil’s support for his re-election next month.
Saturday, February 13th 2010 - 07:48 UTC
On Sunday arrives the Year of the Tiger when “fortune favours the brave”

Sunday is widely dubbed “Double Happiness” day in the Chinese world -- a rare occasion when the New Year festival, launching the Year of the Tiger, coincides with Valentine's Day.
Saturday, February 13th 2010 - 07:42 UTC
Argentina: Oil Co. report refutes drop in hake stocks

An investigation carried out by the oil company Pan American Energy (PAE), at the behest of the Santa Cruz Fisheries Subsecretariat, contends that the capture of common hake (Merluccius hubbsi) has spiked in the San Jorge Gulf fishing-ground. The results of the study contradict claims by the yellow fleet fishers of Caleta Paula, who complain of a smaller abundance of the resource.
Saturday, February 13th 2010 - 07:37 UTC
Thirteen cruise vessels visit South Georgia during January

Thirteen cruise ships visited this month South Georgia, according to the SG Newsletter. This included a vessel new to SG, the 112 passenger “Plancius”. However one vessel, l “Clelia II” had to cancel her visit after striking rocks with her propeller at Petermann Island in the Antarctic Peninsula.
Saturday, February 13th 2010 - 07:30 UTC
Chevron and Repsol will lead development of Orinoco tar sands

Chevron and Repsol YPF SA will lead development of two 15 billion US dollars projects to pump and refine Venezuelan crude after winning the country’s first oil auction since President Hugo Chavez took office 11 years ago.
Saturday, February 13th 2010 - 07:25 UTC
Petrobras finds 25 million barrels oil reserve in shallow waters off Rio

Brazilian government managed energy giant Petrobras announced this week that it has found oil at a well located in shallow waters of the Campos Basin. The find was made in waters just 200 meters deep and is near massive deposits in deeper areas of Campos, which is located off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state and is the basin where 80% of Brazil’s oil is extracted.
Saturday, February 13th 2010 - 07:20 UTC
Argentine Jan inflation: 1% for the government, double for consultants

Consumer prices in Argentina recorded a 1% increase in January, according to the Indec national statistics bureau. In comparison to the same month last year, inflation reached 8.2%, a figure which is highly criticized by researchers and specialists.
Saturday, February 13th 2010 - 07:12 UTC
China/Peru free trade agreement becomes effective March first

The free trade agreement between Peru and China will become effective next March first, following the green light from Beijing’s all powerful Council of State, said the Peruvian Foreign Trade and Tourism ministry in an official release.
Saturday, February 13th 2010 - 07:08 UTC
Germany falters and France expands modestly in fourth quarter

Germany's recovery from recession faltered in the final quarter of 2009, according to preliminary figures released on Friday. The German economy failed to grow at all in the last three months of the year, with GDP unchanged compared with the previous quarter.