Latin America

• Wednesday, June 15th 2011 - 23:35 UTC

  Argentina’s official May ‘fantasy’ inflation 0.7%; private consultants, 1.5%

  

  Inflation in Argentina reached 0.7% in May compared to the volume reported in the previous month, the Indec national statistics bureau announced on Wednesday. The official rate is less than half what was presented on Tuesday by opposition lawmakers, which they assured reached 1.5% and 23% in the last twelve months.

• Wednesday, June 15th 2011 - 22:02 UTC

  End of intense La Niña cycle anticipates return to average rainfall in Chile

  

  The most intense La Niña climate pattern since 1975 is coming to a close in Chile, after it cooled water temperatures off the Pacific coast of South America and left a troubling drought in its wake.

• Wednesday, June 15th 2011 - 19:27 UTC

  Energy rich Venezuela, short in power and forced to ration electricity

  

  Big electricity users in Venezuela have been told to cut consumption or face increased charges. Consumers who save energy will be in line for discounts, officials said. The move comes after a series of recent power failures, the most recent last Friday and Saturday when outages affected most of western Venezuela.

• Wednesday, June 15th 2011 - 14:41 UTC

  Aquaculture more efficient than livestock production, says WorldFish Centre

  

  WorldFish Centre and Conservation International (CI) have revealed a comprehensive analysis exploring the environmental impact of the world's major aquaculture production systems and species and gives an unprecedented global assessment of trends and impacts. The results from the two-year study show that aquaculture is more efficient than other forms of animal protein production such as livestock.

• Wednesday, June 15th 2011 - 04:21 UTC

  Evacuees from Chile’s Puyehue volcano allowed back to their homes

  

  Evacuations ordered after an eruption in Chile’s Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcanic complex begun to be lifted on Sunday for various areas in southern Chile’s Los Ríos and Los Lagos regions, over 600 miles south of Santiago.

• Tuesday, June 14th 2011 - 22:39 UTC

  Humala reaffirms historic links: “Peru will always support Argentina”

  

  President-elect Ollanta Humala said Peru has shown “it will always support Argentina” and underlined the long standing close relations with the country that hosts one of the largest Peruvian communities overseas.

• Tuesday, June 14th 2011 - 17:06 UTC

  Seatrade Conference: South America cruise vessel operating costs ‘unbearable’

  

  Cruise vessel operating costs in South America are becoming unbearable according to company representatives speaking at the South America Seatrade Conference.

• Tuesday, June 14th 2011 - 16:56 UTC

  UN forecasts unemployment in Latin America will drop below 7% in 2011

  

  The strong economic recovery of Latin America and the Caribbean will make it possible to bring down unemployment significantly from 7.3% in 2010 to between 6.7% and 7.0% in 2011, according to ECLAC and ILO.

• Tuesday, June 14th 2011 - 02:48 UTC

  Peru’s Humala interested in joining “political” mechanisms of Mercosur

  

  Peru is interested in regional integration, security, education, combating narcotics but full membership of Mercosur is “distant” said president elect Ollanta Humala during a one day visit to Uruguay, before leaving late Monday for Argentina.

• Tuesday, June 14th 2011 - 02:46 UTC

  Venezuelan president recovering in Cuba says he is in “full capacities”

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Monday he had his “full faculties” after an operation in Cuba and was still managing government affairs despite being ordered to rest for several days more.