
General Motors operations in Latinamerica, Africa and the Middle East remain as strong as ever in spite GM Corp. filed in the US for bankruptcy protection this week, a top official from the company said.

General Motors has no plans to cut jobs or production in any of its businesses in the Mercosur region said on Tuesday GM’s general manager in Argentina. Edgar Lourencon went further and anticipated that plans to launch a new model for the region at the end of the year are advancing as programmed, and that the bankruptcy filing and restructuring of GM in the US does not influence business as usual in Mercosur countries.

United States car group Chrysler has secured court approval for a consortium led by Italy's Fiat to take over its assets. The move, which is backed by both the US and Canadian governments, should enable Chrysler to exit bankruptcy protection in the near future.

Spanish energy company Grupo Guascor will build a 2.4 billion US dollars wind power park in Argentine Patagonia, which could be the largest in the world said on Monday Jose Grajales president of the corporation

Scientists of Chile’s Universidad Católica (UC) have discovered several varieties of the algae Porphyra in Chile. The Department of Ecology at UC has been studying the details of the reproductive cycle of the algae in order to replicate it in the lab

British union leaders say they fear for UK jobs after a deal was announced to save the European arm of General Motors. Germany has agreed a deal with Canadian car parts maker Magna International to take over most of GM Europe, which owns Vauxhall and Germany-based Opel.

Construction in Argentina fell 3% in April year-on-year, accumulating a 2.7% decline since the start of the year, the INDEC statistics' bureau reported. Nevertheless, construction activity grew 3.6% from the previous month, according to the agency, which was partly explained by seasonal effects.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Latin America could plunge up to 45% this year as the global financial crisis stalls capital flows and shrinks the region's economy by more than 0.3%, warned the United Nations Economic Commission on Latinamerica and the Caribbean, Cepal.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez told his Brazilian peer Lula da Silva that Brazilian corporations are safe from the current nationalization process in his oil-rich country. The two presidents met on Tuesday in Bahia to discuss Mercosur, energy, finances and regional integration.

Rio Tinto has agreed to cut key iron ore prices to Japanese steelmakers by 33% in this year's first contract setting a benchmark. However China, the world’s leading consumer of iron ore is not expected to accept such a benchmark.