Economy

• Saturday, July 17th 2010 - 06:19 UTC

  Toyota, Nissan plan to invest 1.2 billion USD to increase production in Latam

  

  Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. will invest a combined 1.2 billion US dollars to expand production in Latin America amid growing regional and export demand.

• Friday, July 16th 2010 - 19:41 UTC

  Colombia joins race to become energy independent by 2020

  

  Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol said it expects to produce 1.3 million barrels per day of “clean” oil equivalent by 2020 and that some 80 billion US dollars in investment will be needed to meet the target.

• Friday, July 16th 2010 - 04:00 UTC

  Goldman Sachs fined 550 million USD for giving clients “incomplete information”

  

  Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay 550 million US dollars to settle civil fraud charges of misleading investors. The US financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said this was the biggest fine against a bank in its history.

• Friday, July 16th 2010 - 03:55 UTC

  EU/Mercosur business leaders call for “ambitious and balanced” trade agreement

  

  Brazilian and European business leaders gathered in Brasilia urged their governments to reach an “ambitious and balanced” trade agreement between Mercosur and the EU, and give first priority to the conclusion of the WTO Doha round talks.

• Friday, July 16th 2010 - 03:46 UTC

  US Senate approves biggest overhaul of financial regulation in decades

  

  United States Senate has given final approval to the biggest overhaul of US financial regulation in decades. The reforms are intended to avert a repeat of the 2008 crisis that brought the world economy to the brink of collapse.

• Thursday, July 15th 2010 - 06:40 UTC

  Mercosur member Paraguay among the world’s tope eight beef exporters

  

  Mercosur full member Paraguay is now between the world’s eight top exporters of beef, with prospects of increasing that position as meat quality increases boosted by improved breeding and better sanitary conditions.

• Thursday, July 15th 2010 - 06:35 UTC

  Argentina confident soy-oil dispute with China will be solved “in the short term”

  

  Argentine Ambassador to China, César Mayoral announced in Beijing that the soybean oil conflict with Beijing that has been ongoing since the beginning of the year “will be solved in the short term.”

• Thursday, July 15th 2010 - 06:23 UTC

  Recession-hit Britons cut back on overseas travel in 2009

  

  Recession-hit Britons cut back on overseas travel last year, with business trips down by almost a quarter, the UK Office for National Statistics announced this week.

• Thursday, July 15th 2010 - 06:19 UTC

  US May trade deficit, the highest in last 18 months

  

  US trade deficit widened to its highest level in 18 months in May, driven by demand for imported cars, computers and clothing. The deficit increased by 4.8% to 42.3 billion US dollars, the largest since November 2008, Commerce Department data showed.

• Thursday, July 15th 2010 - 06:05 UTC

  Venezuela oil reserves could double Saudi Arabia, says US assessment

  

  A new US assessment of Venezuela's oil reserves could give the country double the supplies of Saudi Arabia. Scientists working for the US Geological Survey say Venezuela's Orinoco belt region holds twice as much as previously thought.