Latin America

• Wednesday, June 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  London world's leading financial centre; Santiago in Latam

  

  London has been named the most influential financial centre in the world for the second consecutive year in spite of competition from fast rising hubs in Asia, according to MasterCard's second annual survey.

• Wednesday, June 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Venezuela invites private sector with joint ventures

  Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez said foreign investors have no longer “any room in the country” because they are only interested in making money and transferring earnings overseas. However, he invited private companies to joint ventures in “non strategic” areas of the economy.

• Wednesday, June 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Methanex plant in P. Arenas will appeal to coal for electricity

  

  Canada's Methanex plant in the extreme south of Chile is planning to generate electricity from coal thus sparing more natural gas to convert into methanol, announced the company in Punta Arenas.

• Tuesday, June 10th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  “Disney Magic” cruise pays record Panama Canal toll

  The US cruise ship “Disney Magic” paid a record 331,200 US dollars to cross the Panama Canal. The 295-meter-long cruise owned by a subsidiary of Walt Disney Co, broke the transit record on May 16, the Panama Canal Authority said.

• Monday, June 9th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile's richest families assets total 71 billion U$D

  In the last four years, wealth controlled by Chile's richest families grew by 45% to 71 billion US dollars, according to a study done by Chilean financing evaluation company LarrainVial, consulting company Accenture and the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez.

• Monday, June 9th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Carter helps bring Ecuador and Colombia closer

  

  Ecuador and Colombia Presidents have accepted to renew diplomatic relations at the level of Chargé d'Affairs immediately and with no pre conditions following on a proposal from former US president Jimmy Carter.

• Sunday, June 8th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina chairs UN General Assembly Decolonization Com.

  

  Argentina was chosen last week to the chair of the United Nations General Assembly Special Political and Decolonization Committee which is concerned with disarmament, peace keeping operations as well as decolonization.

• Sunday, June 8th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Taiana addresses C24 Thursday; Wednesday with Ban Ki-moon

  

  Argentina's Foreign Affaire minister Jorge Taiana will be addressing next Thursday the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization, or C24, when he is expected to reiterate Argentine claims over the Falkland Islands and other South Atlantic insular territories sovereignty.

• Sunday, June 8th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Chavez calls on FARC to end armed struggle and release hostages

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez urged Colombian FARC rebels on Sunday to lay down their weapons and unilaterally free dozens of hostages ending to a decades-long armed struggle against Colombia's government.

• Sunday, June 8th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Fossilized burrows of tetrapods found in Antarctica

  For the first time paleontologists have found fossilized burrows of tetrapods -- any land vertebrates with four legs or leg-like appendages -- in Antarctica dating from the Early Triassic epoch, about 245 million years ago, according to a paper from a research funded by the US National Science Foundation and involving several US universities.