Latin America

• Monday, June 8th 2009 - 10:14 UTC

  Possible first case of influenza A/H1N1 in Punta Arenas

  

  A possible first case of influenza A/H1N1 has been detected in Punta Arenas, extreme south of Chile, according to local sanitary authorities. The 24 year old man reacted positive to an indirect immune-fluorescence (IFI) test which identifies the A human influenza virus but further tests are needed to determine if it is the H1N1 variant that is spreading worldwide.

• Sunday, June 7th 2009 - 19:16 UTC

  Chilean wine prices on sales to UK fall on average 31.2%

  

  Chilean bottled wine prices fell an average of 14.6% on the international market in April, while the quantity of bottled exports increased by 5.2%, according to a recent report by industry advocacy group Wines of Chile.

• Sunday, June 7th 2009 - 13:51 UTC

  Flight 447: Airbus 330 faulty speed sensors controversy erupts

  

  Brazilian search crews on Saturday retrieved the first bodies from the crashed Air France flight 447 in the Atlantic, and investigators said faulty speed readings had been found on the same type of jets.

• Sunday, June 7th 2009 - 13:47 UTC

  New Chilean domestic airline takes off June 18

  

  Principal Airlines’ (PAL) imminent domestic service between Santiago, Antofagasta, and Iquique has officially received flight authorization from the Chilean Civil Aviation Authority.

• Sunday, June 7th 2009 - 13:43 UTC

  Fighting in the Peruvian Amazon turns ugly; death toll in the fifties

  

  Nine Peruvian police officers were killed Saturday after security forces regained control of a petroleum facility in a remote jungle region from indigenous groups that are protesting against logging and oil exploration rights awarded by the government.

• Saturday, June 6th 2009 - 14:52 UTC

  Poll shows Uruguay’s ruling coalition repeating next October

  

  The Uruguayan ruling coalition could repeat in next October general election according to the latest public opinion poll released this week in Montevideo. Pollster Radar has the Broad Front of President Tabare Vazquez with a vote intention of 46.7% and the sum of the opposition parties with 40.1%.

• Saturday, June 6th 2009 - 14:32 UTC

  Chilean inflation below target; economy heading for recession

  

  Chile's consumer price index fell a bigger-than-expected 0.3% in May after a fall of 0.2% in April, the National Statistics Institute reported on Friday.
  On an annual basis, inflation for the 12 months through May slowed to 3%, the Central Bank's target rate -- from 4.5% for the year through April. In the first five months of 2009, inflation is down to minus 1.1%.

• Saturday, June 6th 2009 - 14:24 UTC

  Clashes with police over minerals’ rights kill 34 in Peruvian Amazon

  

  At least 34 people have been reported killed in clashes in Peru between the security forces and indigenous people in the Amazon region protesting oil and gas exploration on their lands.

• Friday, June 5th 2009 - 13:08 UTC

  Raul Castro removes architect of the “convertible peso”

  

  The head of Cuba's central bank Francisco Soberón has resigned after holding the job for fifteen years. He was replaced by Ernesto Medina who heads Banco Financiero Internacional, one of Cuba's biggest banks, according to an official announcement read on Thursday evening news.

• Friday, June 5th 2009 - 08:09 UTC

  Short of dollars, Venezuela tightens currency exchange controls

  

  Venezuela tightened currency-exchange controls this week cutting in half the amount of dollars that residents may obtain through the government to send to relatives abroad according to Official Gazette.