Latin America

• Sunday, May 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  France's Total purchased lubricant plant in Chile

  France's TOTAL, one of the world's largest oil companies, confirmed its purchase of the Chilean lubricant plant Castrol. TOTAL currently supplies Chile with 3% of its oil consumption, a figure that will grow as a result of the Castrol purchase.

• Saturday, May 10th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Salmon and livestock removed from Chaiten volcano range

  Chile will begin moving 3.5 million salmon from farms in the range of the Chaitén volcano that has been erupting for over a week and spewing ashes as far as Buenos Aires, Santiago and the South Atlantic.

• Friday, May 9th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Record foreign direct investment for Latinamerica in 2007

  

  Foreign direct investment in Latinamerica reached 106 billion US dollars in 2007, overtaking the record 89 billion of 1999, according to the latest release from the United Nations Latin American Commission, CEPAL.

• Friday, May 9th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Bolivian president accepts challenge of recall referendum

  Bolivian President Evo Morales agreed to a nationwide recall referendum, gambling that Bolivians will re-elect him after just two years in office and confirm support for his plan of reforms which has been condemned by some of the country's richest provinces.

• Friday, May 9th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Almost 60% of Chilean moms during 2005 were single

  Almost 60% of Chilean women who had children during 2005 were single moms, the Chilean Institute of Statistics, INE reported this week. INE noted that most of the single mothers were between 20 and 24 years old.

• Friday, May 9th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  “Pompeii scenario” forecasted for Chile's Chaitén volcano

  Chilean authorities are considering the possibility that Chaitén volcano in continuous eruption for over a week might collapse and release a torrent of red-hot pyroclastic material (burning gas and rocks) that could devastate the surrounding area.

• Wednesday, May 7th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  ENAP/Methanex sign agreement to look for natural gas

  Enap, Chile's government owned oil corporation and Methanex the huge methanol complex in the extreme south of the country signed this week an agreement to speed exploration and production of natural gas in the region.

• Wednesday, May 7th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Growing fears of a major eruption from the Chaiten volcano

  Chilean authorities declared on Tuesday a maximum alert and ordered the complete evacuation of two towns after the Chaiten volcano, erupting nearby, increased its activity, spewing out lava and ash.

• Wednesday, May 7th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  IMF helping Latam with second effects of food prices

  IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned on Wednesday about soaring food prices and the need to cushion the impact on the poor and revealed that the fund is already advising governments and central banks in Latin America on how to limit the second-round effects of the price shocks on the poor.

• Tuesday, May 6th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Chaiten volcano gives no rest and thickens ash blanket

  

  More than 5 000 people had been evacuated in southern Chile, following the eruption of the Chaiten volcano. On Monday, authorities evacuated the town of Futaleufu, some 60 kilometers from the volcano while the remaining residents of the town of Chaiten had left over the weekend.