Mercosur

• Monday, March 29th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Ms. Krueger and the Argentine collapse.

  The Argentine meltdown is the most obvious and recent example of how economic policies failures can be catastrophic said International Monetary Fund's Acting Managing Director Anne Krueger, who estimated that the 2001 crisis could have been softened by bolder reforms in the nineties.

• Monday, March 29th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Deadly cyclone sweeps south of Brazil.

  At least two people are reported dead, five disappeared and hundreds are homeless after a deadly cyclone with winds of up to 150 kilometres per hour swept the southern coast of Brazil just north of Uruguay mid night last Saturday.

• Monday, March 29th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Kirchner in collision course with ruling party.

  Argentine president Nestor Kirchner ignored the new authorities of the powerful ruling Peronist Party elected over the week end and passed the word on to his faithful that he will only stand by a really “renovated” political organization.

• Monday, March 29th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Biggest Latinamerican air show opens in Santiago.

  This Monday Chilean president Ricardo Lagos will be opening the XIII edition of the International Air and Space Fair, FIDAE, which has attracted over 100 aircrafts presented by 250 exhibitors from 30 different countries.

• Sunday, March 28th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Concern with political consequences of energy crisis.

  Argentine diplomacy is concerned with the political consequences of the current energy crisis for regional integration and ideological identification.

• Sunday, March 28th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Kirchner man chairs Peronist Party.

  Argentine president Nestor Kirchner managed to impose his man as the ruling Peronist Party secretary general in spite of an internal crisis following a confrontation with some of the most powerful Peronist governors of the country.

• Sunday, March 28th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Dollar recovers against the Euro.

  The US dollar advanced last week against the Euro following growing expectations that the European Central Bank might cut interest rates, but dropped against the yen given the good news about the Japanese economy.

• Sunday, March 28th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  More IMF praise for Brazil's solid fiscal policies.

  The Brazilian economy is poised for a robust economic growth in 2004 and much is owed to the sound economic policies of last year, particularly the solid fiscal outturn and the government's commitment to a similar fiscal stance this year, according to the International Monetary Fund's Acting Managing Director Anne Krueger.

• Saturday, March 27th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile purchases four Dutch frigates.

  Chile signed last Friday the contract for the purchase of four Dutch second hand frigates, an operation involving 350 million US dollars. The first two units are scheduled to arrive in Chile between June and December 2005 and in July 2006 and May 2007 the other two.

• Saturday, March 27th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile will change energy dependency.

  Surprised by the seriousness of the Argentine natural gas crisis the Chilean government announced drastic changes in its energy policy which until now was increasingly dependent on imports from Argentina.