Mercosur

• Friday, October 31st 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  Uruguayan debt “non payable”.

  Uruguayan foreign debt is “non payable” and will need a considerable write off, indicated in Santiago Chilean economist Ricardo Ffrench-Davis working for the United Nations Economic Commission for Latinamerica, CEPAL.

• Friday, October 31st 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  Chile combats hepatitis and cholera.

  The largest sewage treatment plant in Latin America capable of recycling some 75% of metropolitan Santiago wastewater and controlling water-spread diseases was inaugurated Wednesday by Chilean President Ricardo Lagos.

• Friday, October 31st 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazilian Central Bank declares recession over.

  The threat of recession is behind and the Brazilian economy is ready to begin growing at an annual rate of 3%, said this week Central Bank president Henrique Meirelles.

• Thursday, October 30th 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  Foreign investment still cautious about Brazil.

  Brazil could fall short of the government's goal of attracting 10 billion US dollars in foreign investment this year and will probably end up with only around half of the 16.5 billion it obtained in 2002 according to independent economists.

• Thursday, October 30th 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  Argentine gov't pledges to halt wave of abductions.

  The Argentine government vowed Wednesday to battle kidnappings by criminals like the ones who horrified a Buenos Aires family and much of the nation by sending the finger of a victim and “indescribable and explicit” videotapes to press their demand for ransom.

• Thursday, October 30th 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  Aznar throws Spain's support behind Lula.

  Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar on Wednesday expressed support for the economic reforms sought by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and also voiced sympathy for Brazil's aspirations to gain a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.

• Wednesday, October 29th 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  Vessel with nuclear waste en route to Cape Horn?

  A vessel loaded with radioactive residual materials left this Monday from Australia en route to France and one of the optional routes is Cape Horn, claim Greenpeace activists in Sydney and Argentina. The other is Cape of Good Hope.

• Wednesday, October 29th 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  Lula, Kirchner and Lagos, the most respected.

  The presidents from Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Argentina, Nestor Kirchner and Chile, Ricardo Lagos are the most respected Latinamerican leaders following an opinion poll among the establishment of six countries of the region.

• Wednesday, October 29th 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  US federal funds rate remain unchanged at 1%.

  The United States Federal Reserve Open Market Committee decided this Tuesday to keep its target for the federal funds rate at 1% and anticipated that “policy accommodation can be maintained for a considerable period”.

• Wednesday, October 29th 2003 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazil proposes a “light” FTAA.

  Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's main foreign policy advisor Marco Aurelio García forecasted that the United States sponsored Free Trade Association of the Americas, FTAA, could become effective according to the tentative timetable but “in a far less embracing way than Washington pretends”.