
Gold climbed above 1,400 US dollars an ounce to the highest price in almost seven weeks in London as unrest in the Middle East and North Africa spreads. Silver reached a 30-year high and palladium advanced.

The tourism industry in Chile is going through a very bad moment with a notorious drop in the number of visitors in recent months claim the private sector and local councillors from the city of Viña del Mar, one of the country’s main sea resorts.

Argentina is satisfied with the outcome of the G-20 ministerial meeting after the proposal to regulate commodities prices was turned down, particularly in the food chapter, and because it was agreed that the best way to address current tensions is to stimulate supply.

The G20 have reached a deal on indicators to detect economic imbalances, the French presidency said, after the meeting ended in Paris. The world's leading economies agreed on a compromise after frank, sometimes tense negotiations, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said.

Considered one of the most ambitious trade and investment incursions to Asia, a delegation of Uruguayan business people headed by Vice-president Danilo Astori begins Saturday a seven-day official visit to India.

President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced Friday that Argentina’s economy is 2010 expanded 9.1% and unemployment in the fourth quarter experienced a further drop and now stands at a record low of 7.3%.

Negotiators have failed to agree targets to reduce global economic imbalances on the first day of the two-day G20 meeting in Paris. The countries want to better coordinate economic policies to avoid a repeat of the 2008 global financial crisis.

Argentina and Brazil agreed Friday to set up a Monitoring Committee in order to exclude Brazilian products from being affected by the imports non-automatic licence system announced this week by the administration of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Brazil’s proven oil reserves rose 10.65% in 2010 to nearly 14.25 billion barrels, the biggest annual increase in the past eight years, the ANP oil regulator announced this week. Total reserves, overwhelmingly offshore, which also include probable and possible reserves, soared 34.57% to 28.47 billion barrels.

Chile’s white wine grapes slated for harvest at the end of the month may not find enough hands to pick them. The grape harvest is the most labour-intensive period of the year for vineyards, but this year, vineyards having trouble tracking down temporary workers to work the harvest season.