Latin America

• Wednesday, August 10th 2011 - 01:10 UTC

  President Piñera loosing the education reform battle with Chilean students

  

  Chilean riot police fired tear gas and used water cannons Tuesday to disperse violent protesters of an originally peaceful student demonstration that turned wild in the capital Santiago. Police said 273 protestors were detained and 23 police officers injured.

• Tuesday, August 9th 2011 - 12:58 UTC

  Brazil Defence minister wants the South Atlantic as a peace zone shared with Africa

  

  Brazil’s new Defence minister Celso Amorim said he plans closer links with Unasur (Union of South American Nations) and Africa to ensure the South Atlantic turns into a peace zone free of weapons of mass destruction.

• Tuesday, August 9th 2011 - 12:47 UTC

  Invasive Asian mollusc advances along Argentine coast threatening food chain

  

  An invasive Asian mollusc, Rapana Venosa, is rapidly expanding along the Argentine coastline threatening local ecosystems and fishing activities according to Argentine marine biologists from the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research, Conicet.

• Tuesday, August 9th 2011 - 07:44 UTC

  Latam markets losses greater than in Europe and the US

  

  The main stock markets in Latin America also suffered the impact of panic selling in major markets.

• Tuesday, August 9th 2011 - 07:37 UTC

  Gold soars to 1.700 dollars as world markets are on free-fall fearing recession

  

  Asian equity markets were sharply down early Tuesday as investors fearing a possible global economic slowdown continued to flee stocks as had happened earlier in Europe, United States and Latin America.

• Tuesday, August 9th 2011 - 07:21 UTC

  Chile’s Piñera approval rating plummets to the lowest of any president since 1990

  

  Early last week The Santiago Times reported that approval of President Sebastián Piñera had plummeted, according to a government evaluation survey by one of Chile’s leading polling firms, Adimark.

• Monday, August 8th 2011 - 20:45 UTC

  Chile’s protests for education reform trigger acrimonious political debate

  

  Following one of the most violent marches yet in the citizens’ movement for education reform, Chilean former and current government officials are sounding off against President Sebastián Piñera’s administration and its handling of the ongoing demands for national education reform.

• Monday, August 8th 2011 - 20:10 UTC

  Colombia forces change strategy and will attack terrorists with small scale units

  

  Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos vowed to develop better strategies in the war on the Marxist oriented drugs funded guerrillas who still manage regular small attacks despite being at their weakest in decades.

• Monday, August 8th 2011 - 04:48 UTC

  Chilean Patagonia districts in ‘agriculture emergency’ because of snow storms

  

  Four districts in the Chilean extreme south region of Magallanes were declared in “agricultural emergency” given the harmful effects of snow storms in the area.

• Saturday, August 6th 2011 - 08:47 UTC

  Unasur central bankers anticipate moderation in the region’s growth

  

  Unasur (Union of South American Nations) central bankers meeting on Friday to discuss global financial turbulence saw heightened risks and a moderation in the region's growth, they said in a joint statement published by Chile's central bank.