Latin America

• Friday, October 26th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Court drops charges against Pinochet's family

  

  Chilean appellate court has dropped corruption charges against the widow and children of the late former dictator Augusto Pinochet. The general's family was alleged to have assisted him hide more than 30 million US dollars in offshore accounts during his 1973 to 1990 rule.

• Friday, October 26th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Bank of the South opening delayed until December

  

  The official opening of the Bank of the South, a development-promotion financial institution with the support of most South American countries has been delayed until December 5, announced Venezuela's Foreign Affairs minister Nicolas Maduro.

• Thursday, October 25th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  With copper money Chile plans fully professional army

  

  Chile's president Michelle Bachelet announced this week that the country's armed forces plan to expand to 5,000 professional solders by 2010, and, ultimately, depend fully on professional and voluntary troops. This new initiative will include all three branches of the military: the army, the navy and the air force.

• Thursday, October 25th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Storm kills oil workers in the Gulf of Mexico

  

  Petroleos Mexicanos, Pemex, state-owned oil monopoly, said at least 10 workers were killed when an oil rig hit a drilling platform during a storm this week in the Gulf of Mexico, and 18 are still missing or in lifeboats.

• Wednesday, October 24th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Twenty leaders confirmed for the IberoAmerican summit

  

  Twenty leaders of Ibero-America will be participating in the coming XVII Ibero-American summit scheduled for next November 8/10 in Santiago announced Chilean Foreign Secretary Alejandro Foxley on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, October 24th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Three expeditions to assert Chile's Antarctic commitment

  

  Three Chilean expeditions with strong political emphasis are ready to land in Antarctica before the end of the year with the purpose of asserting Chilean sovereignty following on the Foreign Office's off-Antarctica territory claim.

• Wednesday, October 24th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Lack of water conditions future of Chile's mining industry

  

  Sergio Gonzalez, one of four Chileans working with the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), warned this week that the economic future of Chile's mining industry cannot be sustained unless the nation deals seriously with its growing water shortage.

• Tuesday, October 23rd 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Seminar on climate change challenges for Chilean fisheries

  

  The abundance of cuttlefish along the Chilean coast and the constant threat to hake and other commercial marine species are some of the possible consequences of global climate change mentioned in a recent scientific gathering held Santiago.

• Tuesday, October 23rd 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Successful LAN business plan exceeds expectations

  

  LAN Chile officials disclosed this week that its plan to increase air traffic by 50 percent through the addition of new daily flights was too low an estimate. Halfway through the plan's implementation – which will run through the end of 2008 –LAN officials now believe that the actual figure will be 65 percent by the time the plan is fully applied.

• Tuesday, October 23rd 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Ecuador proposes Washington military base reciprocity

  

  Ecuador's President Rafael Correa said Washington must let him open a military base in Miami if the United States wants to keep using an air base on Ecuador's Pacific coast.