
Argentine budget airline Flybondi will go international starting December 17 with a flight between El Palomar in the Greater Buenos Aires area and the Paraguayan capital Asunción. Three days later it will commence serving Punta del Este from El Palomar and also from Córdoba.

Brazil president-elect Jair Bolsonaro backtracked on some of his more controversial pledges promising to expand trade with China and rethink the idea of moving the country’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Bolsonaro is currently in Brasilia for various meetings with senior officials and transition arrangements.

The U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday said it would impose final anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties on Chinese common alloy aluminum sheet products of 96.3% to 176.2%. The decision marks the first time that final duties were issued in a trade remedy case initiated by the U.S. government since 1985.

A Sino-Chilean consortium is awaiting clearance to bring its project for a new port in the Corral area before the Environmental Impact Assessment System authorities in the South American country, a firm executive announced Wednesday.

France's government launched plans on Tuesday for a new aircraft carrier, saying it will make a decision on how to build the multi-billion-euro warship in 2020. France currently has one carrier, the Charles-de-Gaulle, but is seeking to develop a replacement that would serve until 2080 and be adapted for next-generation combat jets.

The clothing firm Alpargatas shut down its factory in the Argentine province of Chaco, it was reported Monday. The company made it clear it was not a temporary measure by laying off the entire staff and placing the facilities on sale. Further closures and subsequent dismissals nationwide look imminent.

The Chilean Association of Tourism Companies (ACHET) Monday announced it will take the question of the agreement of Latam Airlines with American Airlines and International Airlines Groups (IAG), which was approved last Wednesday by the Court of Defense of Free Competition (TDLC), to the Supreme Court, the Diario Financiero newspaper reported.

British Prime Minister Theresa May and Argentine president Mauricio Macri are scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting in the framework of the coming G20 summit to be held in Buenos Aires at the end of the month.

Argentina's state-controlled oil company, YPF, will significantly boost oil and gas production, investing between US$4 and US$ 5 billion per year through 2022, Chief Executive Daniel Gonzalez said. The plan is to raise production by between 5and 7% per year, with the largest increase in the Vaca Muerta formation, one of the world's largest reserves of shale oil and gas.

Argentina will seek 780 million US dollars to recover the Norpatagónico freight railroad to link the Vaca Muerta hydrocarbon facilities to the port of Bahía Blanca, in the province of Buenos Aires, through Neuquén, La Pampa and RioNegro, President Mauricio Macri's administration announced Wednesday.