Stories for September 2004
APEC tourism summit in Punta Arenas confirmed.
Eighteen out of 21 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation member economies have confirmed they will be participating in the Tourism Ministers summit scheduled in Punta Arenas next October 13/14.
Montevideo, one of the cheapest in South America.
A report from Mercer Human Resources Consulting, MHRC, indicates that Montevideo has become the second cheapest capital in South America and is even below some of the main cities in Central America.
Brazil closer to achieving oil self production.
In spite of some delays in the construction by US contractors of oil rigs, Brazil government owned oil company Petrobras expects to reach a record production of 1,74 million barrels per day in the coming quarter, according to industry sources.
Patagonia:
Acting sheepish.
Sheep are the movers and shakers in Patagonia. Indigenous tribes and gauchos have been massacred to make space for them; beautiful wild mammals such as guanacos and pumas have been enclosed to free up the grasses; and you can even link Britain's claim on the Falklands to sheep quarantining in the 19th century.
Bielsa and Straw Meeting: An Exchange of Courtesies.
In an interview on Friday with Sue Gyford of the Falkland Islands Broadcasting Station (FIBS), Acting Governor, Harriet Hall, described the recent meeting between British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw and his Argentine opposite number, Rafael Bielsa as “really just an exchange of courtesies”
Army barracks renamed after hero.
An army barracks in Rotherham is to be named in honour of a soldier who died while protecting his colleagues.
Tasty Chilean sea bass may be an illegal catch.
Chilean sea bass is moist, flaky and buttery -- and if you buy it at the store or in a restaurant, there's a good chance it was illegally caught, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Environmental Trust.
Repsol YPF-Shell reach deal for natural gas project in Iran.
Royal Dutch/Shell said Thursday it reached an agreement with Spanish oil giant Repsol YPF to exploit natural gas reserves in Iran, although the start of the joint project is at least two years away.
Aridity eating away at Argentina.
Though Argentina is known for its fertile “pampa humeda” - a vast, moist, topsoil-rich plain - a new official survey says three-quarters of the breadbasket and beefy nation is arid and that large chunks are “desertified” each year.
New OAS chief champions democracy.
At his installation ceremony here Thursday, the new OAS chief, former Costa Rican President Miguel Angel Rodriguez, championed a hemisphere “united in support of shared growth” to free the Americas from the bonds of poverty.
