Mercosur

• Thursday, April 29th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina-Chile relation “delicate”

  Argentine president Nestor Kirchner rejected Wednesday evening the idea that his administration is not honouring natural gas agreements with Chile and suggested Chilean president Ricardo Lagos supply reduction claims be addressed to the oil corporations.

• Wednesday, April 28th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Four years in prison for Cuban blind dissident.

  Blind Cuban dissident Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva was sentenced to four years in prison after having been declared guilty of disrespect for the country's President Fidel Castro who has been in power over forty years.

• Wednesday, April 28th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Inflation down, unemployment up in Brazil.

  The extended consumer price index in Brazil experienced a 0,21% increase during April, the lowest this year, according to the latest release from the Brazilian Statistics and Geography Institute, IBGE. In March the index was 0,40%.

• Wednesday, April 28th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Port costs: Punta Arenas loosing to Ushuaia.

  Magallanes Senator Sergio Fernandez has requested Punta Arenas official to review overall docking costs for cruise vessels and make them more competitive with Ushuaia in Argentina that has virtually monopolized the industry.

• Wednesday, April 28th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Lan record profit in first quarter.

  Lan Chile profits in the first quarter reached an all time record of 48,1 million US dollars, a 123% increase over the same period a year ago, according to an official release from the Chilean flag carrier.

• Wednesday, April 28th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Carabineros, the most trusted Chilean institution.

  The Chilean militarized police, Carabineros, is the institution most trusted by Chilean public opinion followed closely by the audiovisual media, while political parties figure in the bottom of the list, according to an opinion poll recently published in Santiago.

• Wednesday, April 28th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentine hake hubbsi catch quotas in 15 days time.

  Authorities from the Argentine fishery sector anticipated that quotas for hake hubbsi catches will be announced within 15 days upon reaching the expiration of the January quota restrictions. According to Fisheries and Aquaculture Under-secretary Gerardo Nieto there already exists an “initial agreement with all sectors involved.”

• Tuesday, April 27th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Interest in South Atlantic hydrocarbons

  Venezuelan and Brazilian government owned oil companies are interested in exploring in the South Atlantic basins according to sources from the Argentine Federal Planning Ministry, reports La Nacion in its Monday's edition.

• Tuesday, April 27th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  EU demands more integration from future associates

  The European Union cautioned Andean and Central American countries that any future trade association must have trade significance and is conditioned to the current World Trade Organization round.

• Tuesday, April 27th 2004 - 21:00 UTC

  Colombia acquits three IRA suspects

  A Colombian court this Monday acquitted three Irish Republican Army members of training local leftist rebels in bomb-making techniques. However the court sentenced the three on false documentation charges.