Mercosur

• Tuesday, August 21st 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Hurricane Dean strengthens into a Category 5 storm

  

  Hurricane Dean strengthened into a monstrous Category 5 storm Monday night as its outer bands of wind and rain slammed the coasts of Mexico and Belize. Thousands of tourists fled the beaches of the Mayan Riviera as it roared toward the ancient ruins and modern oil installations of the Yucatan Peninsula.

• Tuesday, August 21st 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Mortgage buble: risk rating agencies to be grilled by US Senate

  

  Credit rating companies must “shoulder some responsibility” for sub-prime mortgage bonds that have sparked a crisis in credit markets said United States Senator Richard C. Shelby, the Senate Banking Committee's top Republican.

• Monday, August 20th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Navy's newest warship sets sail for Falkland Islands patrol duty

  

  The Royal Navy's newest warship HMS Clyde left Portsmouth on Monday, 20 August bound for the South Atlantic.

• Saturday, August 18th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  The Oil Patch Cheers On Hurricane Dean

  

  The price of crude oil is down some 8 percent since August 1. What the oil patch and every oil trader knows, one of the quickest ways to turn around this tumble is the drama of a good old fashioned hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico wending its way toward the Texas and Louisiana coasts. And Shazam! Here comes Hurricane Dean!

• Friday, August 17th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Falkland Islands: Penguin News Weekly update

  

  Headlines:
  Soldiers take a rough ride; Ferry workshops highlight 'unknowns'; Education Director's praise for A Level students; Foot and Mouth: caution continues; Quake rocks Peru.

• Thursday, August 16th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Deadly magnitude 7.9 earthquake strikes central Peru

  

  An earthquake of magnitude 7.9 struck off the coast of central Peru on Wednesday evening killing 337 people, injuring at least a thousand and triggering a tsunami warning for South America's central Pacific coast, according to the first reports from the media in the capital Lima.

• Thursday, August 16th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Peru “megathrust” quake toll keeps mounting as rumbling ceases

  

  The death toll rose to 500 on Thursday in the magnitude-8 earthquake that devastated cities of adobe and brick in Peru's southern desert. Public services collapsed, emergency operations are slow in delivering and rescue efforts seem minimal compared to the magnitude of the tragedy.

• Wednesday, August 15th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Reciprocity: US citizens need visas to visit Bolivia

  

  In a long anticipated “reciprocity” decision as of this Wednesday United States citizens will have to request visas to visit Bolivia. Earlier this year president Evo Morales said that all countries have dignity “even small, underdeveloped countries as Bolivia”.

• Monday, August 13th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Chilean seabass blacklisted in the US as a “health risk”

  

  The United States based Seafood Watch Program (SWP) has blacklisted Chilean seabass, advising U.S. consumers that the fish species is commonly exposed to mercury contamination. To prevent possible health risks, SWP suggests a significant decrease in Chilean seabass consumption, especially for children, who should be restricted to a maximum of one serving per month.

• Sunday, August 12th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Bullock ends days in minefield

  

  ON a Friday evening one could be excused for thinking that the Joint Services Explosive Ordnance (JSEOD) team would be winding down at the end of a busy week -
  
  wrong.