Latin America

• Tuesday, September 9th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Oil drops to 100 USD; Saudis say market “well balanced”

  

  Crude oil fell to a five-month low in New York and Brent oil in London dropped below 100 US dollars a barrel as traders remained confident that the OPEC meeting in Vienna would not decide to reduce production.

• Monday, September 8th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Russian sea and air power temporarily based in Venezuela

  

  Russia plans to temporarily station a nuclear-powered missile cruiser and anti-submarine aircraft in Venezuela, foreign ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said Monday in Moscow.

• Monday, September 8th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  NGO highlight Chilean salmon industry labor problems

  Influential NGOs Oxfam Chile and Fundación Terram began the second phase of their “Not Afraid To Go Against The Current” campaign, an effort originally launched in January to highlight questionable labor and environmental practices within Chile's farmed salmon and trout industry.

• Sunday, September 7th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile investing 18 million USD in new London embassy

  

  Chile is planning a four stories building in London to house its embassy as of next year when the contract for the current location on 12 Devonshire Street comes to an end.

• Sunday, September 7th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Colombia finds second oil well; signs accord with India

  

  Colombia's government owned Petroleum Corporation, ECOPETROL announced the discovery of a promising well in the province of Huila to the southeast of the country with initial tests of 900 barrels of oil per day.

• Sunday, September 7th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Caribbean chapter of the US-Russia Georgia dispute

  

  The Venezuelan government confirmed on Sunday that four Russian naval vessels will participate in joint exercises in the Caribbean next November, a move that could further strain relations between Washington and Moscow following the Russian invasion of Georgia.

• Saturday, September 6th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Protesters paralyze Bolivian highways, airport

  

  Protesters stormed a small airport Friday and blocked major highways across eastern Bolivia in a standoff over central government reforms designed to empower Bolivia's indigenous majority.

• Saturday, September 6th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Chavez nationalizes domestic fuel wholesalers

  

  President Hugo Chavez got the legislative rubber stamp Thursday he needs to complete his effective nationalization of Venezuela's fuel industry.

• Friday, September 5th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Chilean scientist develops kit to detect toxic algae bloom

  

  Although shellfish poisoning is not that common in Chile, it does occur frequently as a result of mysterious, massive algae blooms – the so-called “red tide” phenomenon.

• Thursday, September 4th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile's inflation seems to have peaked and begins to yield

  Chile's August Consumer Prices Index, CPI, increased 0.9% accumulating 6.5% in the first eight months of the year and 9.3% in the last twelve months (down from 9.5% in July/June), according to the latest release from the National Statistics Institute, INE.