Latin America

• Tuesday, May 3rd 2011 - 05:20 UTC

  FAO estimates 2011 rice world production up 3%; Latam to rebound 9.2%

  

  Rice production is expected to rise to 480 million tons in 2011, which is 3% higher than a year earlier, due to improved weather conditions, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation said on Monday.

• Monday, May 2nd 2011 - 00:59 UTC

  Spain main bank’s profits sustained by Latin America branches, mainly Brazil

  

  Spain’s biggest bank Santander reported first-quarter profit declined 5% as lower earnings at home offset gains in Latin America. Net income fell to 2.11 billion Euros from 2.22 billion Euros a year earlier, the Spanish bank said in a filing Friday.

• Monday, May 2nd 2011 - 00:31 UTC

  LAN plans to invest 4.6 billion USD on its fleet through 2014

  

  Chile's LAN Airlines group plans to spend around 4.6 billion US dollars on its fleet of aircraft through 2014, Chief Financial Officer Alejandro de la Fuente announced.

• Saturday, April 30th 2011 - 10:17 UTC

  CELAC has not been created to exclude the US or Spain, says Iglesias

  

  The head of the Ibero-American Secretariat Enrique Iglesias denied that the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC, to be created next July pretends to take distance from the United States or Spain.

• Saturday, April 30th 2011 - 09:34 UTC

  UNASUR Secretary General officially takes office May 9 in Guyana

  

  Union of South American Nations, UNASUR, nominated Secretary General Maria Emma Mejia said Friday in Uruguay that her round of visits to country members has the purpose of defining a work agenda to be elaborated once she formally takes office in May.

• Friday, April 29th 2011 - 22:07 UTC

  Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina among top users of social network Twitter

  

  Three Latin American countries figure among the ten top users of social network Tiwtter according to a release from comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, based on the comScore Media Metris service.

• Friday, April 29th 2011 - 05:06 UTC

  Lima Declaration seals the Pacific Alliance of Peru, Chile, Colombia and Mexico

  

  The presidents of Latin America's most pro-business countries, Peru, Chile, Colombia and Mexico agreed on Thursday to deepen their existing commercial ties and further open doors to lucrative Asian markets.

• Thursday, April 28th 2011 - 06:27 UTC

  Record Latino turnout in US 2010 mid term election, but well below potential

  

  More than 6.6 million Latinos voted in the legislative elections last November, a record Hispanic turnout in a non-presidential election year, according to a new study.

• Thursday, April 28th 2011 - 02:08 UTC

  France’s Total makes mega find that could boost Bolivia’s gas reserves by a third

  

  The French energy giant Total and its Argentine partner, Tecpetrol, announced the discovery of a major natural gas find in Aquio in southeast Bolivia.

• Tuesday, April 26th 2011 - 23:50 UTC

  Latam and Caribbean states create CELAC to counter US influence

  

  Latin American and Caribbean Foreign Affairs ministers are meeting in Venezuela in anticipation of the presidential summit scheduled for July 5 in Caracas when a new regional integration organization is set to be born, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean states, CELAC.