Vietnam's first ETF begins trading in the US

Vietnam's first ETF, which tracks Market Vectors Vietnam index .MVVN, not the country's Hochiminh index began trading today.

Van Eck bets on Vietnam's growth with new ETF - Reuters

The Market Vectors Vietnam ETF (VNM) will be the first U.S.-listed ETF exclusively dedicated to Vietnam, mirroring the performance of the Market Vectors Vietnam index .MVVN, which tracks companies that generate at least 50 percent of their revenues in the country, Van Eck said in a statement.

"Vietnam is one of the world's most populous nations, and its well-educated, young population -- nearly half of the country's 90 million residents are under the age of 25 -- provides strong underpinnings for local economic growth," Van Eck said in the statement.

Click here to access the full article from Reuters by Walter Brandimarte

* Vietnam Flag, courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Obama a hit at the Summit of the Americas - Reuters Video

Overall, this Reuters video does a decent job of summing up the Summit of the Americas in 2 minutes time. It doesn't go into too much detail, but does highlight how the leaders of the Americas received the new president of the United States.

Other countries news sites had slightly different areas of focus than the coverage in the NYT, WSJ or other major online US news.

Apr. 19 (Reuters)- Latin American leaders are hailing as a success an Americas summit that consecrated President Barack Obama as a positive partner in the hemisphere.

Peru's Fujimori gets 25 years prison for massacres -- Reuters

LIMA (Reuters) - Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was convicted of human rights crimes and sentenced to 25 years in prison on Tuesday, the first time a democratically elected Latin American president has been found guilty in his own country of such offenses.

A three-judge panel convicted him of ordering a military death squad to carry out two massacres that killed 25 people during his 1990-2000 rule, when he was battling communist guerrillas. Nearly 70,000 people died in two decades of conflict in the Andean country.

Once lauded as a hero, Fujimori, 70, could spend the rest of his life in prison. He can file an appeal, but the verdict is likely to have far-reaching political implications for Peru.

"He was the president who saved our country from terrorism," the former president's daughter Keiko Fujimori, a presidential hopeful and popular lawmaker, said as she called for supporters to march in the streets to protest the verdict.

Reuters Business Feed

China makes it snow

Reuters video I thought I'd share due to the really cool version of snow blowers they have in Beijing.



Feb 19 - China's cloud-seeding yields Beijing's first snow, after its longest drought in 38 years.

Other Chinese provinces such as Gansu, facing a threatening reduction of wheat production, have also been in a race to produce more rain and snow.

Rio Tinto shakeup over China deal -- Reuters

Feb 9 - The mining group's chairman-designate quits after objecting to a potential deal with state-run Chinese aluminium maker Chinalco.

Jim Leng, deputy chairman of India's Tata Steel, was named as Rio's next chairman just over three weeks ago. Current Rio Chairman Paul Skinner will now stay in the post until mid 2009 to allow time to appoint a successor.

Peter Parker reports.

The twisted and evil actions of Monterrico Metals (MNA.L)

For quite some now IncaKolaNews has been following the developments behind the very obvious abuse of power and torture conducted by Monterrico Metals and it's security company, Forza (part of the Swiss Securitas Group) against poor communities in the Peruvian Andes.

Check out this article from Reuters published today.

"A Peruvian security company that works for some major international mining firms faces a congressional investigation after human rights groups accused it of beating and abusing protesters in 2005 at a site it guarded.

Recently published photos of alleged beatings of protesters caused an uproar in Peru, a leading metals exporter, where remote mines guarded by private security firms are often targets for demonstrations over the social and environmental impacts of mining."

~ Reuters article via Mineweb


And these posts from IncaKolaNews to get the full story.

- Dear shareholder: Are your investment dollars paying for torture and thuggery in Peru?
- The Monterrico Torturers: Peru's Congress will lay the blame on the company
- Monterrico Metals (MNA.L): Seems like Peru is trying to kick the torturers out
- Monterrico Metals Torture: The Peru gov't opens its official enquiry


Point of this post --> Monterrico Metals and its security company Forza, are corrupt companies full of thugs who deserve to be punished for torturing and yes... killing innocent Peruvians. Warning the pictures below are bit graphic. They are from IncaKolaNews, so if you're planning on reading those posts you'll see them anyway.

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Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao gets shoe thrown at him in UK -- Reuters

President Bush isn't the only one getting shoes tossed his way. Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao was in Europe yesterday giving a speech at Cambridge University in the UK when a protester in the audience threw a show at him, calling Wed a "dictator."

China's foreign ministry spokeswoman denounced the actions of the protester and hailed the Prime Minister trip to Europe as a important step forward in Sino-European relations.



Seems like throwing shows is becoming a popular way to express your anger and discontent towards an individual. It becomes all the more meaningful considering a great many cultures and people in the world also think of it as the "ultimate insult."

Leaders be ware...

UK to double exports to China - Reuters

Feb 2. - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown seeks to strengthen economic ties with China during a visit by Premier Wen Jiabao.

Brown says both leaders have agreed to resist trade protectionism in the face of the economic slump, while China prepares to send delegations to Europe to buy commodities, goods and technologies.

Peter Parker, Reuters

Vandals target Venezuelan synagogue - Reuters

Feb 1 - Authorities say an armed gang destroyed sacred objects and sprayed anti-Semitic graffiti in an attack lasting several hours.

The Israeli Association of Venezuela believes there has been an increase in anti-Semitic sentiment in the country whose president Hugo Chavez has described Israel's Gaza offensive as a holocaust.

Paul Chapman reports. -- Reuters

News line: commodities in focus

China looks to African metals and minerals for the long term -- Mineweb
Chinese investment is replacing that from the West in many key sectors, especially with regard to metals. Minerals and energy and Chinese businesses are prepared to take the long term view.

Sharp decrease in copper, moly prices result in 4Q08 loss for Southern Copper -- Mineweb
A sharp decline in metals prices and a tough economy has prompted Arizona's Southern Copper Corporation to put all capital expenditures on hold for this year

January gold jewellery sales off 70% in Abu Dhabi -- Mineweb
Sales of gold jewelery in Abu Dhabi have fallen some 70 percent in January compared with a year ago as high prices, coupled with the global economic situation, have combined to keep buyers away.

Copper falls to one-week low on signs global slump is deepening -- Bloomberg
Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Copper fell to the lowest price in more than a week on signs the global economic slump is deepening, reviving concern that metal demand will decline further.

Corn, Soybeans decline as deepening recession cuts global use -- Bloomberg
Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Corn and soybeans fell to the lowest prices in more than two weeks on speculation that the deepening global recession will reduce demand for U.S. crops used in making food, animal feed and alternative fuel.

Peru mining unions call for nationwide strike -- Mining Journal Online
Peru's largest federation of mining unions said over the weekend it has agreed to call a nationwide strike starting on March 15, to protest mounting job cuts and to pressure Congress to lift caps on profit sharing.

Brazil's 8th Oil auction suspended until petroleum laws change -- Dow Jones New Wires via Rigzone
No decision will be made on restarting Brazil's suspended eighth-round oil and natural gas concession auction until likely changes are made to the country's petroleum laws, Brazil's National Energy Policy Board said Monday.

Horizon Oil, partners to deliver China oil project Development Plan in May - Dow Jones New Wires via Rigzone
Australia's Horizon Oil Ltd. said Monday that partners in an oil project in the South China Sea will submit a revised development plan to China National Offshore Oil Corp. in May.

Oilex joins ranks of international oil producers with Cambay start-up -- Oilex Ltd via Rigzone
Australian-based oil & gas group Oilex has formally marked its transition to cash flow and production by delivering a strong December Quarter performance by starting up oil production from its Cambay Oil Field in October in India with 16,800 barrels of oil produced during the December 2008 quarter from two wells.

Japan discovers new source of mineral wealth -- Reuters via Mineweb
Resource-poor Japan just discovered a new source of mineral wealth -- sewage. The country's sewage yields more gold than top mines.

Reuters Video -- China's GDP Slows

Singapore to open a new bourse reports Reuters

SINGAPORE, July 9 (Reuters) - India's Financial Technologies Group, operator of India's top commodities bourse, plans to launch a similar exchange in Singapore early next year, it said on Wednesday.

The Singapore Mercantile Exchange will provide a platform for futures and options trading on precious metals, base metals, energy, agricultural commodities, currency pairs, carbon credits and commodity indices, the group said in a statement. .................

Click here to access the full story from Reuters.com