Latin America

• Monday, December 25th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  US dollar appreciates in Chile and helps exporters

  The US dollar closed in Chile at its highest in two months last week, 531 pesos, following the continuous drop in copper prices, the country's leading export.

• Sunday, December 24th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Chile's Sky Airline plans to fly to Cordoba and Mendoza

  BUENOS AIRES — Chilean private company Sky Airline, which currently serves the Chilean domestic market, said that it is planning an imminent expansion of its route network to Córdoba and Mendoza in central Argentina, as part of wider plans to also fly to Sao Paulo, Lima and Madrid.

• Sunday, December 24th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Copper mining companies invest in “reliable” energy

  Four of the largest mining companies operating in Chile have joined forces in pursuit of reliable and affordable gas supplies.

• Sunday, December 24th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Another Chilean General's grandson fired

  A week after Augusto Pinochet Molina, grandson of the former Chilean dictator, was fired from Chile's armed forces for giving an incendiary speech at his grandfather's funeral, the grandson of former General Carlos Prats, Francisco Cuadrado Prats, was fired from his job as a cultural director in Santiago's borough of Las Condes.

• Friday, December 22nd 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Market will continue to call for soybean acres

  

  It's beginning to sound like a scratched CD, but supplies of soybeans are large.
  The market, though, is bidding up soybeans so producers will keep soybeans in their rotation for 2007.
  U.S. ending stocks for Aug. 31, 2007 are projected at 565 million bushels.

• Friday, December 22nd 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Latin America: Unemployment is Key Problem

  

  A high number of Latin Americans are concerned about a shortage of jobs, according to the 18-country Latinobarómetro released by The Economist. 45 per cent of respondents in Panama select unemployment as the most important problem, followed by 39 per cent in Uruguay and 37 per cent in Nicaragua.

• Thursday, December 21st 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Chile: US$4.815 billion foreign investment in 2006

  The Foreign Investment Committee (FIC) reported that in 2006 the amount of foreign investment in Chile reached US$4.815 billion, 183 percent higher than in 2005.

• Wednesday, December 20th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  U.S. environmental group opposes Aisen project in Chile

  Chilean Patagonia, one of the world's most pristine wilderness areas, is receiving major attention these days from a large and very well-connected U.S. environmental group.

• Wednesday, December 20th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Bush extends tariff preferences to Andean nations

  President George W. Bush signed legislation Wednesday extending for six months existent trade benefits to four Andean nations: Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. According to the bill countries that approve free trade agreements, FTA, with the US will have a further six months.

• Tuesday, December 19th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Chile adds two new regions to the existing 13

  

  Chile will add two more Regions to the existing thirteen beginning mid 2007 following the approval in Congress of the initiative. The new regions are XIV Valdivia, divided into the provinces of De Los Rios and Ranco and the XV, Arica and Parinacota.