ECONOMY-CUBA: Speculate No More

The Cuban government is seeking to curb excessive food prices in farmers’ markets by cracking down on speculation and theft, which will benefit consumers but may discourage producers, according to economists.

EUROPE: Preparing to Get at Resources of the Poor

European Union officials are drawing up a new strategy for giving multinational companies greater access to minerals and wood located in poor countries.

ENERGY-LATIN AMERICA: PDVSA’s Growing Presence

Central America, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and islands in the eastern Caribbean are receiving more and more oil from Venezuela, while major refineries are planned in South America - at Pernambuco in northeastern Brazil, and at El Aromo, on Ecuador's Pacific coast.

BRAZIL: Reform of Global Financial System Needed, Says Minister

A new international financial architecture, based on different rules, is a reform that has long been demanded by different sectors and is now "inevitable" in the face of the "universal and systemic crisis" originating in the United States, says Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega.

ENVIRONMENT: Push for Biofuels Losing Energy

The European Union's only directly elected body has urged that a contentious target for using agricultural crops to meet one-tenth of the bloc's transport demands should be reduced.

JAPAN: Tainted Rice Scam Shakes Consumer Confidence

Consumer confidence in quality-conscious Japan has been badly shaken by a scandal over contaminated rice that was discovered to have been imported and distributed to restaurants, hospitals, schools and stores.

ARGENTINA: Soup Kitchens Feel Impact of Rising Food Prices

"It breaks my heart because I know these kids don't have anything to eat, but I can’t serve any more people," says Estela Esquivel, talking about children who have been turned away at dinnertime from the La Casita de la Virgen soup kitchen in La Cava, a slum neighbourhood on the north side of the Argentine capital.

DEVELOPMENT: Ending Africa's Food Crisis

Africa's food crisis can be alleviated by modernising agriculture and reforming supply chains so that small-scale farmers get cheaper fertiliser and high-yield seeds, experts and officials at a conference in Oslo have argued. But so far, they say, funding is lacking.

ECONOMY-BRAZIL: Relative Calm Despite Plunge in Shares

In spite of the plunging value of shares on the Sao Paulo stock exchange this week due to the financial crisis in the United States, the Brazilian economy is relatively calm, although worse effects are expected in the years to come.

EUROPE: Transgenic Crops’ Days May Be Numbered

Pressure from the president of the European Commission has not succeeded in advancing the cause of transgenic crops. In spite of the power wielded by the executive organ of the European Union, the bloc’s member countries are gradually discontinuing the use of genetically modified seeds.

LATIN AMERICA: Food Price Hikes Hit Poor Hard – ECLAC

The countries of Latin America have coped relatively well so far with the rising global food and fuel prices. But the main challenge they face is to focus more attention on the plight of the poor, experts said at a seminar being held in the Chilean capital.

PERU: Small Towns Face Challenge of Using Windfall Mining Revenues

Peru is enjoying a mining boom. But while some areas lacking in minerals and oil have seen very little of the windfall profits, other districts have taken in so much money that they have only been able to actually use a tiny portion of it.

OIL-PERU: “The Ashaninka People Will Not Allow These Abuses”

"We will not allow the oil company to come in because it will bring pollution and we will suffer," said Medaly Pancho, a member of the Ashaninka community in the central Peruvian province of Junín. "We hunt and fish, we live our peaceful lives, and we don't want that to change."

TRADE: Old Talks Never Die

"History tells us that multilateral trade negotiations never die, and the current Doha Round is no exception," said economist Carlos Pérez del Castillo, Uruguay’s former permanent representative to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and chairman of the global body’s General Council in 2003 and 2004.

MEXICO: Peasants Seek Ways to Block Canadian-Run Mine

The Canadian mining corporation Minefinders has explored a rural area of the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua for 14 years. But as it gets ready to begin mining gold and silver there, its plans are threatened by peasant farmers' protests.

CUBA: Foreign Investors Keen on Sugar Production

Foreign direct investment in the sugar industry is acceptable to the Cuban government for producing alcohol and other derivatives, but it continues to be a topic that the authorities prefer not to talk about, at least in public, although experts regard it as desirable for the recovery of the industry.

ENVIRONMENT: Amazon Increasingly Oily

More than 180 oil and natural gas fields extend across the western Amazon, shared by five South American countries and threatening biodiversity and indigenous lands, warns a study by U.S.-based organisations.

INDIA: Mining Boom Affecting Tribals, Environment

While India has been steadily attracting foreign investment into its booming mining sector, the fact that the best prospects lie in tribal-dominated and heavily forested areas is cause for concern.

PHILIPPINES: Hungry for Rice, Unwilling to Invest

When the price of rice nearly doubled to about 90 US cents per kilo, two months ago, Liza Valino put cheaper substitutes like bananas and sweet potatoes on the table to feed her family of ten. But no one was satisfied.

ECONOMY-PERU: Easier to Extract Minerals than Accounting Information

Sixty-six percent of the Peruvian state’s revenue from the extractive industries does not appear on government accounts. Parliament is taking a hand in the matter amid pressure from oil, gas and mining companies for the government to flout an international agreement on transparency.

TRADE: ‘Increased Foreign Investment Will Not Lift All Boats’

Paul Moist, the President of Canada’s largest union, expressed concern about a free trade deal between Canada and Colombia during a recent meeting with Fabio Valencio, Colombia’s Minister of the Interior.