Latin America

• Wednesday, August 20th 2014 - 00:15 UTC

  UN accepts extension of Uruguay's continental shelf to 350 miles; first in South America

  

  The United Nations accepted the proposition of the Uruguayan government to extend the Uruguayan territorial seabed from 200 to 350 miles. Uruguay thus becomes the first South American nation to receive the approval of the UN for such request.

• Monday, August 18th 2014 - 07:19 UTC

  US Panama Canal workers recall and celebrate the century old feat

  

  The 100th anniversary of the opening of the Panama Canal, hailed at the time as one of the world's great wonders, has inspired a celebration in central US state Florida to showcase the experience of the US canal workers behind the engineering feat.

• Monday, August 18th 2014 - 06:35 UTC

  Exodus: a million more Puerto Ricans on mainland US than in the island

  

  A new study has found that Puerto Rico has undergone such a dramatic population shift that there are now over a million more Puerto Ricans on the US mainland than on the US island territory. The Pew Research Center study showed that between 2010 and 2013, more people left Puerto Rico for mainland US than those who left in the 1980s or 1990s.

• Friday, August 15th 2014 - 07:13 UTC

  Cristina Fernandez will use anti-terrorism law against US company that closed its Argentine plant

  

  Argentina's government will use an anti-terrorism law for the first time to seek criminal charges against a U.S.-based international printing firm which closed its Argentine plant without warning, president Cristina Fernández said on Thursday. She linked the company to some of the hedge funds in litigation with Argentina over defaulted bonds.

• Friday, August 15th 2014 - 06:51 UTC

  Auction 21 August to settle (and possible payout) of Argentina's defaulted swaps

  

  The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) will hold an auction on August 21 to settle Argentina’s default swaps. The auction, run by Creditex and Markit, will determine the payout that holders of protection on Argentine debt (CDS) will receive as a result of the default on July 30.

• Friday, August 15th 2014 - 06:47 UTC

  New record for the US dollar in Argentina's 'blue market', 13.20 Pesos

  

  The US dollar in Argentine money markets continued its rising path on Thursday with a new record climb to close at 13.20 Pesos. This so-called “blue” dollar had jumped 20 cents to 13.15 pesos on Wednesday, breaking its 13.06 Pesos record from 23 January.

• Friday, August 15th 2014 - 06:44 UTC

  Argentine July inflation 2.47% and 39.71% in twelve months, according to Congress index

  

  July consumer prices index in Argentina according to the so called Congressional index, climbed 2,47% and 39.71% in the last twelve months. The same index marked 2.2% in June indicating a growing tendency.

• Friday, August 15th 2014 - 06:40 UTC

  Chilean lawmakers approve initiative to ban trawling in territorial waters

  

  The House of Representatives approved this week a draft agreement to ban trawling in Chile. With 55 votes in support, six against and five abstentions, the deputies voted in favor of the Draft Resolution No. 100, which requests the Executive to submit a legislative initiative to amend Article 49 of Act No. 18,892 in order to ban fish catching by trawling.

• Friday, August 15th 2014 - 06:34 UTC

  Mujica, Latin America's most original leader according to The Economist

  

  Under the heading of “The sage of Montevideo”, The Economist visited the Uruguayan president at his farmhouse in the outskirts of Montevideo where they had a long chat.

• Friday, August 15th 2014 - 02:26 UTC

  All phone calls inside Chile become local; Punta Arenas code area is 61

  

  Chile has become a single territory for telecommunications and long distance calls with different rates for fixed lines will no longer exist beginning Saturday. This in practical terms will also means a 50% reduction on normal phone calls.