Mercosur

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 06:02 UTC

  Rockhopper ends Faklands’ 2010/11 exploration round with three oil discoveries

  

  Rockhopper Exploration announced Monday that it has completed its successful round of drillings in Falkland Islands waters with the Ocean Guardian rig.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 05:59 UTC

  Chile preparing forest restoration plan for ravaged areas of Torres del Paine Park

  

  As emergency workers finish extinguishing the last traces of fire in Torres del Paine National Park, now the Chilean government is beginning to look at the next critical phase in handling the disaster in Chile’s world-famous adventure destination.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 05:57 UTC

  Chilean per capita meat consumption has doubled in the last two decades

  

  In the last two decades Chileans consumption of different meats has doubled according to data from the Agriculture Policy and Studies Office, ODEPA, released this week. From the 39.6 kilos of 1991, meats consumption soared in 2011 to 84.2 kilos on average, and not taking into account fish and sea food.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 05:54 UTC

  FMD in Paraguay: 168 livestock sacrificed and major investigation into previous outbreak

  

  Paraguay veterinary services concluded Monday midday the termination of 168 livestock mostly belonging to a farm where an outbreak of foot and mouth disease was confirmed 2 January in the county of San Pedro to the centre north of the country.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 05:53 UTC

  Chavez and Ahmadinejad mock 'US imperialism' and joke about having an atomic bomb

  

  Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez lavished each other with praise on Monday, mocked US disapproval and joked about having an atomic bomb at their disposal.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 05:51 UTC

  With October election in mind Chavez back on the air with “Alo Presidente” program

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez resumed on Sunday his weekly television and radio broadcast after a seven-month pause. Chavez's program, Alo Presidente, had been halted while he was receiving treatment for cancer.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 05:49 UTC

  Bush fires in Patagonian Chubut out of control; several towns evacuated

  

  Authorities from the Argentine Patagonia province of Chubut issued a red alert on the fires that affect forest areas and decided to evacuate El Hoyo town, while 40 Chilean fire-fighters were expected to arrive to the mountain region to help put out the bush fires.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 05:48 UTC

  Brazil to build five new dams in the Amazon but with “oil-rigs” technology

  

  Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff signed the decree for the construction of five new hydroelectric dams in the Amazon basin and readies for a renewed attack from domestic and international environmentalists against the project.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 05:46 UTC

  “Clarin rebelled against reality” when Cristina Fernandez diagnosis was “false positive”

  

  Faced with media controversy following Argentine President Cristina Fernandez thyroid cancer surgery that resulted in a “false positive” case, that is minor benign non cancerous tumours in spite of the original diagnosis, the Argentine Executive Chief of Staff Oscar Parrilli revealed that the president had ordered him to “tell it all” regarding the 22 December operation.

• Monday, January 9th 2012 - 06:57 UTC

  PM Cameron discards any Falklands’ sovereignty negotiations with Argentina

  

  British Prime Minister David Cameron discarded any Falkland Islands sovereignty negotiations with Argentina and said that his government is permanently vigilant about the protection of the Islands and their defence.