Latin America

• Wednesday, December 15th 2010 - 04:17 UTC

  Mercosur with the best growth performance in the region in 2010

  

  Mercosur full member countries with the exception of Brazil will have the best growth performance in the region this year, according to the annual report from the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Cepal which was announced this week in Santiago de Chile.

• Wednesday, December 15th 2010 - 02:48 UTC

  Polish yacht grounded in Beagle channel with loss of two crew members

  

  The bodies of two crew members from a Polish flagged yacht that grounded in the Beagle Channel, extreme south of Argentina, have been recovered by Argentine naval patrols, reported late Tuesday the Ushuaia based Search and rescue centre.

• Tuesday, December 14th 2010 - 14:11 UTC

  Uribe confirms Wikileaks: he was prepared to cross into Venezuela territory

  

  Former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe (2002-2010) confirmed the contents of a confidential US State Department confidential cable exposed by Wikileaks, according to which he contemplated sending troops across into Venezuelan territory to capture and arrest FARC guerrilla leaders.

• Tuesday, December 14th 2010 - 14:05 UTC

  Colombia’s Ecopetrol announces seventh technical oil discovery in 2010

  

  Colombia’s Ecopetrol has reported oil shows from a second stratigraphic well on the Cano Sur block, where Shell holds a 50% stake. Ecopetrol said that it completed drilling of the Draco-1 well, located in the southeastern province of Meta.

• Tuesday, December 14th 2010 - 06:43 UTC

  Bolivia’s first (Chinese built) telecommunications satellite operational by 2014

  

  The Bolivian Space Agency (ABE) and the Chinese Great Wall Industry Corporation signed a commercial contract for the construction and launching of the first Bolivian telecommunications satellite, which has been baptized Tupac Katari.

• Monday, December 13th 2010 - 03:01 UTC

  Chavez asks for decree powers ahead of new stronger parliament

  

  Venezuelan opposition leaders fear President Hugo Chavez will use special decree powers he has requested to override an electoral setback that stripped him of a super-majority in parliament.

• Saturday, December 11th 2010 - 00:44 UTC

  Glaciers in Chile and Argentina are melting at the fastest rate

  

  Glaciers in Chile, Argentina and Alaska are melting at the fastest rate, according to a report compiled by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and presented this week at the UN climate change talks in Cancún, Mexico.

• Friday, December 10th 2010 - 18:20 UTC

  Chile begins construction of 1 MW solar energy plant to supply copper mine

  

  Last December 2, a ceremonial first stone was laid to mark the start of construction of a photovoltaic solar plant near the northern Chilean city of Calama.

• Friday, December 10th 2010 - 04:26 UTC

  Most Chileans have a “poor” and “unhealthy” diet shows nutritional report

  

  A study by the Catholic University of Chile and the Banmedical Foundation showed that 62% of Chileans were found to have a “poor diet” and 29% an “unhealthy” diet.

• Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 20:51 UTC

  Unasur members will share and disclose data on military expenditure

  

  For the first time ever South American countries will jointly share and disclose data on their military expenditures, according to the Ecuadorian Ministry of Defence. It is anticipated that next March all member countries from Unasur (Union of South American Nations) will make public the information following on this year’s approval of a common methodology to measure Defence expenditure.