Stories for November 17th 2011

Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 23:41 UTC
Paraguay’s wheat exports doubled in a year to over a million tons

Paraguay’s wheat exports have doubled in 2011 compared to the previous year and has increased 33 fold in the last decade, and this has been based on a government-private effort of investing in scientific research and technology.
Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 22:25 UTC
Santiago air terminal will be expanded to handle 24m pax annually by 2017

Chilean Public Works minister Laurence Golborne announced this week a 500 million dollars plan to revamp Santiago’s air terminal to address the ever growing number of national and international passengers.
Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 22:20 UTC
Greek bond holders prepare for 50% ‘hair cut’ discussions involving 100bn Euros

Greece and holders of its debt hope to agree on a proposal to halve its privately held debt within weeks, both sides said on Thursday, raising hopes that a key pillar of Greece's 130 billion Euros bailout is still on track.
Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 22:15 UTC
Italian cabinet receives ample Senate confidence vote; Monti outlines program

New Italian PM Mario Monti's government of technocrats passed its first test, winning a vote of confidence in the senate late Thursday. As expected, the government won the vote in the upper house of parliament easily, by 281 votes to 25.
Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 22:11 UTC
Brazilian federal police open a probe into an oil spill from a Chevron well

Brazilian federal police have opened a probe into US oil giant Chevron over alleged pollution linked to an oil spill at its offshore Frade project, local media reported Thursday.
Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 20:08 UTC
Colombian president tells new FARC leader: turn in or risk death

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos warned the new FARC rebel chief ‘Timochenko’ to reconsider waging war or risk the same fate as his predecessor, who was shot dead by Special Forces this month.
Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 20:01 UTC
Latin American economy has entered cooling phase, says Brazilian think-tank

The Latin American economy has entered a declining phase and will further slow down in coming months according to a report from the Brazilian think-tank Getulio Vargas Foundation, FGV.
Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 19:56 UTC
Germany and France clash over a greater role for the European Central bank

German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated Thursday her opposition to a greater role for the European Central Bank in helping to solve the Euro zone debt crisis, saying political action was required.
Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 19:53 UTC
Moody downgrades ratings of ten German public-sector banks

Moody’s ratings agency decided on Thursday to surprisingly downgrade the rating of ten German public-sector banks. This is the first time Europe’s largest economy in the region, which keeps the Euro zone afloat, is hit.
Thursday, November 17th 2011 - 19:07 UTC
Non-white, the majority population in the ‘racial democracy’ of Brazil

For the first time, non-white people make up the majority of Brazil's population, according to preliminary results of the 2010 census. Out of around 191m Brazilians, 91 million identified themselves as white, 82m as mixed race and 15m as black.