Latin America

• Monday, June 18th 2012 - 07:32 UTC

  Peru announces 28bn dollars in mining projects despite growing social unrest

  

  The Peruvian government has approved private mining projects worth 28 billion dollars out of 52 billion dollars of projects planned over the next five years, Peru's Energy and Mines Minister Jorge Merino said.

• Monday, June 18th 2012 - 07:17 UTC

  Public and private sectors pledge in Rio+20 to restore “oceans’ health and productivity”

  

  Over 80 countries, civil society groups, private companies and international organizations have declared their support for the new Global Partnership for Oceans (GPO), signalling their commitment to work together around coordinated goals to restore the world’s oceans to health and productivity.

• Monday, June 18th 2012 - 01:12 UTC

  European crisis could reduce Latin America’s growth prospects by 40%

  

  An aggravation of the European crisis could reduce growth prospects in Latin America up to 40%, said the Inter American Development bank president Luis Alberto Moreno, particularly because of the influence of European financial institutions in the influx of capital to the region.

• Monday, June 18th 2012 - 00:56 UTC

  Chile’s ENAP recovers oil concession revoked when Argentina seized YPF from Repsol

  

  Chile's state-owned oil and gas company ENAP, Empresa Nacional del Petroleo, recovered the Southern Argentine concession revoked in March by Chubut province, when the dispute over YPF, ENAP said in a statement Friday.

• Saturday, June 16th 2012 - 06:01 UTC

  UN Economic commission forecasts 3.7% growth in Latam and Caribbean this year

  

  The latest ECLAC report, “Macroeconomic report on Latin America and the Caribbean, Jun 2012” shows that activity in the first months of this year has been stronger tan in the second half of 2011 despite considerable global uncertainty and volatility.
  The report estimates Latam and Caribbean growth for this year at 3.7% compared to 4.3% in 2011.

• Saturday, June 16th 2012 - 05:57 UTC

  Chilean Lower House votes unanimously to end “copper law” that finances the military

  

  Chilean Defence Minister Andrés Allamand achieved this week a unanimous vote in the Chamber of Deputies for the proposal to change the funding system for the Armed Forces. The proposal, should it gain approval in the Senate, would put an end to the so-called “copper law,” which has been in effect since 1958.

• Saturday, June 16th 2012 - 05:55 UTC

  Chile’s leaves basic rate unchanged at 5%; annual inflation in May, 3.1%

  

  Chile’s central bank kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 5% for a fifth consecutive month as inflation in the world’s top copper producer eased and unemployment continued to decline.

• Friday, June 15th 2012 - 19:32 UTC

  Brazil economy continues anaemic; consumption boost expected in second half of 2012

  

  The Brazilian economy contracted in April for the first time on an annual basis since September 2009, reinforcing economists’ expectations that Latin America’s largest economy will slow for a second consecutive year.

• Friday, June 15th 2012 - 06:17 UTC

  Colombia passes law that could pave the way for peace talks with guerrillas

  

  Colombia's Congress on Thursday passed a law that could pave the way for peace talks with Marxist oriented guerrillas, raising hopes for an end to the war, but drawing criticism from human rights groups that say the law is too lenient toward rebel leaders.

• Thursday, June 14th 2012 - 11:26 UTC

  Rio+20 summit takes off in Brazil with optimism and many challenges

  

  The United Nations conference on Sustainable Development opened in Brazil on Wednesday, launching a new round of debate on the future of the planet, its resources and people, 20 years after the first Earth Summit.