Mercosur

• Thursday, February 21st 2013 - 05:27 UTC

  Mercosur begins technical meetings for new proposals on trade accord with EU

  

  Mercosur will retake next March technical discussions for a new proposal to be presented to the European Union for a trade and cooperation agreement, announced Argentine Foreign minister Hector Timerman next to his peer Antonio Patriota following bilateral talks on Wednesday in Rio do Janeiro.

• Thursday, February 21st 2013 - 04:45 UTC

  Brazilian soybean farmers oppose contract with Monsanto to end royalties’ dispute

  

  Brazilian farmer groups are opposing a contract that Monsanto the world’s biggest seed company is offering farmers to end a dispute over royalty payments on its genetically modified soybean seeds. Monsanto is trying to resolve uncertainty over its ability to collect fees on its new Intacta soybeans, which it is scheduled to start selling in Brazil during the next growing season.

• Thursday, February 21st 2013 - 04:43 UTC

  Unasur, invited by electoral officials will observe the April 21 election in Paraguay

  

  Paraguay’s Superior Electoral Tribunal, TSJE said on Wednesday that representatives from Unasur, Union of South American Nations, would be present as observers of the electoral process scheduled for next April. The accord was signed by TSJE president Alberto Ramirez Zamonini and the head of Unasur High Level Group, Salomon Lerner.

• Thursday, February 21st 2013 - 04:41 UTC

  Correa hopeful Paraguayan elections will be “transparent and democratic”

  

  Re-elected Ecuadorean president Rafael Correa is hopeful “transparent and democratic” elections will be held in Paraguay next April, a country with which he is waiting to normalize relations.

• Thursday, February 21st 2013 - 01:47 UTC

  Nationalized airport operators demand 90 million dollars from Bolivia

  

  The Spanish infrastructure company Abertis said it was seeking 90 million dollars from Bolivia in compensation for the nationalization of its subsidiary Servicios de Aeropuertos Bolivianos (Sabsa). Abertis was also considering other possible legal claims, its chief executive Francisco Reynes said.

• Thursday, February 21st 2013 - 01:44 UTC

  Rousseff says end of poverty is close; 48 million Brazilians registered in social support programs

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff raised the monthly stipend of 2.5 million people living below the poverty line to make good on her promise to eradicate extreme poverty in Brazil. Even when announcing she has almost met her anti-poverty target halfway through her four-year term, Brazil’s last census points to 700,000 families who still live in extreme poverty but are not registered on government social programs.

• Monday, February 18th 2013 - 17:26 UTC

  Gibraltar and the Falklands referendum: “we are with you every step of the way”

  

  Chief Minister Fabian Picardo has expressed Gibraltar’s “unqualified” support for the people of the Falklands in their forthcoming referendum. Picardo’s remarks were delivered by Samantha Sacramento last week at the Commonwealth parliamentary Association regional conference in the capital of Stanley in Falklands.

• Monday, February 18th 2013 - 16:29 UTC

  Morales nationalizes control of Bolivia three main airports

  

  Populist Bolivian President Evo Morales on Monday nationalized control of the country’s three main airports from Spain’s operator Abertis-Aena, arguing that the company had not fulfilled investments commitments promised for years.

• Monday, February 18th 2013 - 15:44 UTC

  Chavez in Caracas military hospital; presidential oath ceremony expected

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is resting in Caracas military hospital after his Monday early dawn return from Cuba where he spent ten weeks recuperating from cancer surgery. However contrary to other occasions no video or pictures were shown and officials confirmed he has a tracheal tube which limits speech.

• Monday, February 18th 2013 - 00:24 UTC

  Cruise industry warns South America: itinerary costs are three times higher than in the Mediterranean

  

  Representatives from the cruise industry have cautioned Uruguay that port operational costs in South America could have a negative impact on what has been a steady increase of business in the last few seasons and this impact could be felt as soon as next year despite the fact that the 2012/2013 season on the Atlantic is proving to be quite successful despite an uncertain start. “Itineraries’ costs in South America are three times those of the Mediterranean”.