International Business News - BOL http://www.ibtimes.com All articles are copyrighted by IBTimes.com 400 100 http://www.ibtimes.com/ http://www.ibtimes.com/images/top_logo_ibt2_3.gif Hugo Chavez, once a key mediator in securing hostage releases from Colombian rebels, could do little more than phone congratulations to President Alvaro Uribe after this week's bold rescue. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/85884-venezuela-chavez-hostages.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080704/colombia-hostage-rescue-sidelines-chavez.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080704/colombia-hostage-rescue-sidelines-chavez.htm Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:21:12 EDT Peru's president said Tuesday that he's sick of Bolivian President Evo Morales criticizing Peru's trade pact with the United States, spreading false rumors about American military bases and urging Peruvians to protest in the street. Things really got unneighborly when Morales called Garcia "fat." http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080701/peru-bolivia-leaders-not-so-neighborly.htm Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:34:14 EDT Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused Europe on Tuesday of taking a page from Washington by adopting a barbaric immigration policy that he said would create a "wall in the Atlantic." http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/83598-argentina-mercosur-summit.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080701/chavez-eu-migration-rules-barbaric.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080701/chavez-eu-migration-rules-barbaric.htm Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:32:41 EDT Jeff Goodhartz is single and has no children. But he wanted to ensure the family name would live on after he's gone. So he paid $5,000 to have a newfound sea worm given the Goodhartz name, "goodhartzorum." http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/82627-naming-species.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080630/want-scientific-immortality-name-a-sea-worm.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080630/want-scientific-immortality-name-a-sea-worm.htm Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:01:35 EDT A new regional development bank for South America announced an initial capital fund of $10 billion, with the possibility of climbing as high as $20 billion, after a meeting of the seven member states on Friday. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/81672-venezuela-brazil.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080628/regional-bank-announces-10-billion-fund.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080628/regional-bank-announces-10-billion-fund.htm Sat, 28 Jun 2008 04:13:22 EDT A spot of tea landed a South Florida man in a spot of trouble with state prosecutors. Jerome Klein is now free while he awaits trial on a burglary charge. Authorities jailed him in April for violating bond after failing a drug test. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080627/fla-man-claims-tea-caused-him-to-fail-drug-test.htm Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:28:28 EDT AP's coverage of the devastating Myanmar cyclone amid extraordinarily hazardous and harsh conditions has received top honors for deadline reporting from the Associated Press Managing Editors Association. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080626/apme-honors-ap-coverage-of-myanmar-cyclone.htm Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:22:53 EDT Natural gas-rich Tarija became the fourth Bolivian state to declare autonomy from the government of leftist President Evo Morales when voters backed greater independence in a referendum, according to two unofficial private projections. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080623/bolivian-energy-rich-state-backs-greater-autonomy.htm Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:19:28 EDT Natural gas-rich Tarija became the fourth Bolivian state to declare autonomy from the government of leftist President Evo Morales on Sunday when voters backed greater independence in a referendum, according to two unofficial private projections. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/77281-bolivia-referendum.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080622/4th-bolivian-state-moves-toward-autonomy.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080622/4th-bolivian-state-moves-toward-autonomy.htm Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:11:08 EDT Despite an intensive $4 billion drive to protect U.S. embassies, at least 150 American missions abroad fall short of security standards put in place after deadly bombings, The Associated Press has learned. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/77051-embassies-at-risk.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080622/billions-more-needed-to-secure-us-embassies.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080622/billions-more-needed-to-secure-us-embassies.htm Sun, 22 Jun 2008 12:47:35 EDT Bolivian officials said Friday they have arrested two men who may have planned to kill President Evo Morales. But a local prosecutor quickly released them. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080620/assassination-plot-suspected-in-bolivia.htm Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:35:23 EDT A top official in Argentina's gas industry says the country is suffering from shortages of natural gas and diesel fuel, as well as high prices. Osvaldo Spanu said Friday that there are shortages in deliveries from Bolivia, a main supplier. Spanu says that local delivery disruptions caused by the ongoing farm crisis have concealed the lack of fuel supplies. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080620/argentine-offcials-calls-energy-crisis-grave.htm Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:36:54 EDT Bolivian President Evo Morales is stepping down as leader of the powerful coca growers' union that launched his political career. Morales told reporters Thursday he will resign as chief of the Six Federations of the Tropic of Cochabamba next month to make way for new leadership. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080619/bolivias-morales-to-quit-coca-union-job.htm Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:47:14 EDT Colombian peasants devoted 27 percent more land to growing coca last year, the United Nations reported Wednesday, calling the increase "a surprise and a shock" given intense efforts to eradicate cocaine's raw ingredient. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/74618-colombia-coca-eradication.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080618/coca-cultivation-surges-in-colombia.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080618/coca-cultivation-surges-in-colombia.htm Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:40:12 EDT Cuban television on Tuesday showed the first images of Fidel Castro in more than five months, broadcasting a silent video of the ailing revolutionary chatting in a garden with visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/74096-cuba-castro.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080618/cuban-tv-shows-new-images-of-ailing-fidel-castro.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080618/cuban-tv-shows-new-images-of-ailing-fidel-castro.htm Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:27:46 EDT Cuban television on Tuesday showed the first images of Fidel Castro in almost six months, broadcasting a silent video of the ailing revolutionary chatting in a garden with visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/74058-cuba-castro.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080617/cuban-tv-shows-fidel-castro-chatting-with-chavez.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080617/cuban-tv-shows-fidel-castro-chatting-with-chavez.htm Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:39:00 EDT Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez met with former Cuban President Fidel Castro to discuss the world's food, energy and financial crises during a private three-hour meeting, state media reported Tuesday. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/73446-cuba-venezuela.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080617/chavez-meets-with-ailing-fidel-castro.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080617/chavez-meets-with-ailing-fidel-castro.htm Tue, 17 Jun 2008 05:36:23 EDT Brazil is imposing $250 million in fines on steel companies caught using charcoal made from illegally logged forests, the environment minister said Thursday. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080612/brazil-fines-steel-companies.htm Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:34:19 EDT Argentina, one of the world's biggest breadbaskets, should be rolling in cash as world food prices soar. Instead, soy, wheat and corn have sat for weeks in silos as farmers protesting new export taxes suspended sales. http://www.ibtimes.com/data/articleimgs/66703-argentina-farm-crisis.jpg http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080608/farm-crisis-spooks-argentine-economy.htm http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080608/farm-crisis-spooks-argentine-economy.htm Sun, 08 Jun 2008 20:27:33 EDT President Evo Morales is creating a Cabinet-level ministry to defend Bolivia in legal battles over his nationalizations of foreign-owned companies. Morales said late Thursday that the ministry would "assume an enormous responsibility" in helping the state reclaim petroleum, mining, telecommunications and other industries privatized during the 1990s. http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20080606/bolivia-creates-post-to-defend-nationalizations.htm Fri, 06 Jun 2008 14:40:51 EDT