Home Shopping Latino Inc. is launching the only network of its kind – a QVC-style shopping channel aimed at the Hispanic market. Targeting the United States in early 2010, the channel will be aired under the name of ViVa Telecompras. The company intends to sell products such as jewelry, gemstones, vitamins and beauty care items from third-party merchandisers.

Several weeks ago, the company announced an agreement with MadAmerican Exports Inc. to import sapphires, rubies, emeralds, garnets, tourmaline and other precious gems from the nation of Madagascar. This country is an Indian Ocean island nation off the east coast of Africa that is exceptionally rich in minerals and gemstones.

MadAmerican Exports CEO Biclair Andrianantoandro is an excellent person for Home Shopping Latino to partner with because he is well-known and well-respected by all political factions in Madagascar. He has held many official positions in

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China Technology Development Group Corp., a clean energy group focused on bringing together related technologies to create solar energy systems, announced today a cooperative agreement between China Technology Solar Power Holdings Limited (CTSP), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization International Solar Energy Center for Technology Promotion and Transfer (ISEC-UNIDO). This agreement will co-establish the International Photovoltaic Application Laboratory (PV Lab) in Lanzhou, Gansu province on Nov 14, 2009.

CTDC, whose major shareholders include one of China’s leading state-owned conglomerates, China Merchants Group (CMG), and Beijing Holdings Limited (BHL), the biggest offshore subsidiary created by the Beijing Municipal Government, entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement with CTSP earlier this year (on Oct. 27) to gain 51-percent equity interest. CTSP develops and operates large-scale solar plants, such as the grid-connected Delingha 100MW Solar Power Project, making it a natural addition to CTDC’s structure.

The PV Lab will utilize the Delingha installation as a

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Panasonic Corp. (PC) provided another update on the acquisition of SANYO Electric Co Ltd. (SANYY) at its Board Meeting held on Nov 4, 2009. The company announced the start of its tender offer to acquire 3.1 billion shares of SANYO (or more than 50% of the company’s total shares) for approximately $4.4 billion (403 billion yen).  Earlier, Panasonic had planned to take over all of Sanyo's shares. Panasonic had entered into a capital and business alliance agreement with SANYO in Dec 2008. The latter is a leading company in the rechargeable battery business focused on lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. Panasonic is one of the leading manufacturers of electronic and electrical products, systems and components.  The tender offer is planned for Nov 5 through Dec 7 at a price of $1.4 or 131 yen per share. Goldman Sachs, Daiwa Securities SMBC and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (Sanyo's ...

Home Shopping Latino Inc., and a new Latino Shopping Network, the only network of its kind to service the exploding Latino market in the USA, with the on air name ViVa Telecompras, today announced an agreement with MadAmerican Exports, Inc. to import sapphires, rubies, emeralds, garnets, tourmaline and other precious gems from Madagascar, an Indian Ocean island nation off the coast of Africa known for being exceptionally rich in minerals and gemstones.

MadAmerican Exports CEO Biclair Andrianantoandro previously served as Director of Exports and Ministry of Commerce, as well as Deputy and Acting Ambassador of Madagascar to the United Nations and Deputy and Acting Ambassador of Madagascar to the United States.

Home Shopping Latino CEO Frank Celecia stated, “Mr. Andrianantoandro is well-known and well-respected by all political factions in Madagascar. He has held many official positions and assisted in the promotion

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According to Taiyuan Bureau of Commerce, retailers that use energy-saving lights will gain a 50% subsidy from the government. In 2008, Taiyuan was designated a pilot city along with nine other cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, and Shenyang, in a nationwide retail industry energy-saving campaign initiated by the Ministry of Commerce and launched a series of [...]

Gold was flat until the noon hour on Wednesday, when it finally made a modest upmove and held in positive territory despite easing on the Globex to finish at $890.70/oz., up $7.40. Overnight, gold has inched higher.

Platinum made its big move just after Hong Kong closed, adding about $25, then leveled off and did little for the rest of the day, ending at $1169/oz., up $16. Overnight, platinum is sharply higher.

Silver had a strong day, rising from unchanged at the beginning of the New York session to a peak just short of $12.40 on the Comex, before sliding on the Globex to close at $12.32/oz., up 26 cents. Overnight, silver is trending higher. (Click here for charts)

There were no really major moves among the precious metals yesterday, but all posted decent gains against a backdrop of wildly volatile equities, declining oil prices, and a weakening dollar.

Analysts cited

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Chinese regulators rejected Coca-Cola Co.’s (KO) $2.3 billion bid for China Huiyuan Juice Group Ltd., China’s largest juice company.

The move surprised many analysts, as it will make it easier for Western countries to prevent Chinese companies from acquiring overseas targets and discourage other large corporations from pursuing mergers in China.

China’s Ministry of Commerce blocked the deal saying the biggest takeover of a Chinese company failed to meet the country’s anti-monopoly law and would be “negative for competition.”

“If the acquisition of Huiyuan went into effect, Coca-Cola is very likely to take a dominating position in the domestic market and the consumers may have to accept the high price fixed by the company as they don’t have more choices,” the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.

Huiyuan Juice is a household name in China, and controls 42% of the country’s pure-fruit-juice market. Coca-Cola controls 54%

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The base metals were mostly in the red on Monday. Copper sank during the pre-dawn hours, but rallied through most of the New York session before slipping a little late in the day to finish at $1.4251/lb., down less than a quarter-cent.

Nickel pulled back a bit after last week’s charge, closing at $5.6283/lb., down 11 1/3 cents. Zinc was up and down, with a final late upthrust taking it to $0.5651/lb., up nearly a half-cent. Aluminum was off during the pre-dawn hours but rallied back the rest of the day to end at $0.6854/lb., down three-quarters of a cent, while lead regained most of its early lost ground, but still shed better than a half-cent, to $0.499/lb.

It was a desultory day for the industrial metals. Reuters summed up: “U.S. copper futures ended with marginal losses on Monday, after an overnight test of both ends of the trading range held,

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According to the statistics released by the Ministry of Commerce on October 27, 2008, in the first three quarters of 2008, the retail sales of China's dining and lodging industry increased by 24.8% to over CNY1.1 trillion. There increased rate was 6.7 percentage points higher than the same period last year and the dining and lodging [...]

The number of foreign-invested research and development centers in China has risen from about 700 in 2004 to more than 1,200 this year. This is a clear indicator that China is transforming from a low-cost manufacturer into a center of innovation, says emerging markets expert Irwin Greenstein. However, investors need to treat the country's foreign direct investment numbers. Statistics for China do not meet international standards...