South America

MONTEVIDEO, July 26 (NNN-XINHUA) -- Uruguay's state-owned power company said on Tuesday that the recent record demand for electricity was completely covered by renewable energies.

The National Administration of Power Plants and Electrical Transmission (UTE) said the South American country's power demand reached a record 2,063 megawatts on Monday night when temperatures dropped to around 7 degrees Celsius in the capital Montevideo. The country, in the southern hemisphere, is currently in winter.

MEXICO CITY, July 26 (NNN-XINHUA) -- Latin American trade bloc the Pacific Alliance, in conjunction with its older counterpart the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), is poised to spur regional trade ties with China, according to Mexican experts.

TEGUCIGALPA, July 23 (NNN-TELESUR)--A Honduran judge Saturday ordered the arrest of 38 Hondurans, including lawmakers, officials and individuals, accused of diverting more than US$11.7 million to finance political campaigns in the 2013 elections, EFE reported according to a judicial source.

The arrest warrants were issued by Judge Lidia Álvarez, before whom the accused must appear Monday at a hearing the judicial spokesman who requested anonymity told EFE.

LA PAZ, July 23 (NNN-XINHUA) -- Asia has become Bolivia's main market for mineral exports, overtaking the United States, in the past three years due to better export conditions and prices, according to the Bolivian mining ministry.

In 2017, Asia received 61 percent of Bolivia's minerals exports, including zinc, gold, silver, lead, tin and copper, valued at more than US$2.3 billion.

Meanwhile, the U.S. demand for Bolivia's minerals fell from US$256 million worth of imports in 2015 to US$59 million in 2017.

BUENOS AIRES, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, has reiterated the risks that protectionist trade policies will have negative impacts on world economy.

During a Saturday press conference here in the Argentine capital, Lagarde noted recent global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) forecasts amid the United State's application of heavy tariffs being placed on various foreign imports.

21 July 2018, AFP; US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Saturday urged China and the EU to respect "free, fair and reciprocal trade" as his French counterpart fired back that the US needs to "see sense" amid fears of a global commerce conflict.

Mnuchin arrived in Buenos Aires for the Group of 20 summit of finance ministers and central bankers at the end of a week in which US President Donald Trump ramped up his inflammatory remarks and threats regarding global trade.

AP; Mexico City, Jul 12 :  President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said he will cancel the pending purchase by Mexico's navy of eight armed Lockheed Martin MH-60R helicopters from the US government.

Lopez Obrador mentioned nixing the planned USD 1.2 billion deal as an example of extensive cost-cutting measures his government will undertake.

"That purchase is going to be cancelled because we can't make that expense," he said during a wide-ranging news conference yesterday.