Mercosur

• Tuesday, January 6th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Wall Street Ratings agencies threatened? Standards too Poor?

  

  Ratings companies used to have a great name. No longer. The subprime mortgage crisis has seen to that. Once seen as being blue chip companies with a sterling reputation, the ratings companies have now come to be seen as part of the sordid network of double dealing in Wall Street in which conflicts of interest and outright dishonesty led to millions losing money, while the fat cats of the ratings companies raked it all in.

• Thursday, January 1st 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Raul Castro marks Cuban revolution

  

  Cuba's revolution is “stronger than ever” the country's president has said, as he led ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the overthrow of the US-backed government.

• Wednesday, December 31st 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  NY becomes US number 1 tourist city with 47 m. visitors

  

  New York City attracted an estimated 47 million visitors and $30 billion in total spending in 2008, both record highs according to figures released by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and confirming the Big Apple as the projected number one tourist city of the United States.

• Tuesday, December 30th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazilian wants larger representation in Mercosur parliament

  

  The president of the Mercosur Parliament has stated that Brazil should have four times the number of representatives from Paraguay and Uruguay. Deputy Doctor Rosinha argued that since Brazil has a population of 187 million, it should have 75 representatives, Argentina 33 and Paraguay and Uruguay, 18 each.

• Tuesday, December 30th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazil openly admits trade surplus benefits from Mercosur

  

  The lack of mechanisms to correct asymmetries and finance infrastructure projects are the biggest hurdles for Mercosur and Latinamerican integration, according to the Brazilian presidency main foreign policy advisor Marco Aurelio Garcia.

• Monday, December 29th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Coal mining venture threatens Chilean Patagonia Island

  A coal mining venture being considered for Chile's Region X Isla Guafo, off the southwest coast of Chiloé, is raising alarm bells among area scientists, indigenous groups and local fishermen who fear the endeavour could cause irreparable harm to the uninhabited island's diverse and abundant wildlife.

• Monday, December 29th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Copper keeps sliding, reaches a four year low at 1.27 USD lb

  The price of copper, Chile's biggest export, may not rebound past 2 US dollars per pound after the international credit crisis hammered speculators, according to Santiago Gonzalez, Chile's Mining minister. Copper reached last week a four year low.

• Monday, December 29th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Fake cases tarnish Chile's dictatorship missing victims list

  Several cases of people listed as missing victims of Chile's dictatorship which have either been located or died under unrelated circumstances has shocked the country's public opinion and caused political turmoil.

• Monday, December 29th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Mercosur calls for end of violence and peace talks in Gaza

  

  Mercosur expressed “concern and repudiation” towards the spiral of violence in the Gaza Strip, and also regrets the tragic results of the Israeli bombardment of the Palestinian territory.

• Sunday, December 28th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Forty days repairs for “Ushuaia” in Punta Arenas dry dock

  The Panamanian flagged cruise vessel Ciudad de Ushuaia that in early December ran aground close to the Antarctic Peninsula should be ready to resume her activities in 30/40 days time according to sources from Asmar Magallanes, the yard in Punta Arenas, extreme south of Chile where she is undergoing repairs.