French oil giant Total is demanding a billion US dollars compensation from Argentina before a World Bank investment protection arbitration tribunal arguing that the 2002 freeze of hydrocarbons prices and derivates, plus the devaluation of the Argentine currency has caused massive losses to the company.
European Union and Mercosur ministers will be meeting this week in Brussels, Belgium in an attempt to rescue the strategic association agreement that has been seriously conditioned following the collapse of the September World Trade Organization round in Mexico.
YPF-Repsol plans to invest 5,5 billion US dollars in Argentina in the coming four years, with 2,6 billion specifically earmarked for hydrocarbons exploration and production. The investment program is scheduled to be officially announced this week when the company's president Alfonso Cortina arrives in Buenos Aires.
A second weekly Lan Chile flight between the Falkland Islands and Punta Arenas is out of the question, reports Buenos Aires daily Clarín in its Monday edition.
Chilean Foreign Secretary Soledad Alvear this Monday formally apologized to the Argentine Ambassador in the name of the Chilean government, for the military espionage attempt at the Argentine consulate in Punta Arenas.
Falkland Islanders have been praised by the Governor, Mr Howard Pearce, for being a very warm, hospitable, welcoming community. He says he greatly enjoys his fascinating job.
A group of Punta Arenas tourist operators have requested authorization for a cruise full of history and archaeology in the protected island of Navarino where aborigines first met English missionaries and later on visited by Fitz Roy and Charles Darwin.
A two week international meeting on piracy in the Southern Ocean, held in Hobart, Tasmania, ended on a disappointing note for its hosts after proposals for tighter controls against poaching were vetoed.