Kofi Annan, United Nations secretary-general, on Thursday appealed for immediate aid of $977m to pay for humanitarian relief to around 5m people affected by tsunamis that swept acoss the Indian Ocean on December 26.
Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet moved closer to his first trial on human rights abuses following Tuesday's 3-2 decision by the Chilean Supreme Court's five judge criminal panel ratifying the indictment of the 89-year-old retired general on ten counts of murder or disappearance.
Canadian veterinary officials confirmed a second case of mad cow disease among dairy cattle.
Hong Kong is considered the most liberal (open) economy of the world and Chile leads in Latinamerica with position eleven in a global rating of 155 countries, according to the latest report from the Conservative and influential US Heritage Foundation.
The Argentine Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food announced the hubbsi hake quota for 2005 which will total 380,000 tons.
An estimated 350,000 visitors have flooded Uruguayan resorts along the Atlantic coast since mid December according to official statistics and consumption figures.
World leaders began preparing for Thursday's tsunami relief summit in Jakarta with a flurry of new aid announcements and a strengthening debate on how to alleviate the problems of afflicted countries.
Praising as marvellous the world response so far to last week's devastating Indian Ocean tsunami, Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia, today to launch the United Nations flash appeal expected to total many hundreds of millions of dollars for the most urgent needs over the next six months.
Gibraltar Government has confirmed that it intends to make a substantial cash contribution to the Tsunami appeal. Details are expected to be announced later this week. The Government is also understood to be looking at other ways in which the victims can be assisted.
By close of business at the Standard Chartered Bank in Stanley yesterday (Tuesday) a recently opened Tsunami Disaster fund account had already reached £6,500, which is in addition to £2,000 sent immediately to the British Red Cross from their local branch in the Falkland Islands, when the news of the disaster in Asia broke.