Mercosur

• Thursday, March 29th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Fidel Castro published article to criticize US biofuels policies

  

  Ending eight months of silence, ailing Cuban President Fidel Castro published an article in Cuban state media Thursday criticizing US environmental policies. The article published in the Cuban Communist Party Daily Granma was the first attempt by Castro, who is recuperating from intestinal surgery, to comment on international issues since he was taken ill in July 2006.

• Thursday, March 29th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Falkland Islands “business as usual” says Chief Executive

  Responding yesterday to the announcement by the Argentine Government of the suspension of the British/Argentine Joint Agreement over oil exploration in the Special Area of Cooperation in the South Atlantic, Chief Executive of the Falkland Islands Government, Chris Simpkins, said that while the announcement by Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana was “unfortunate” it would have no practical effect and there would be “business as usual” in the Falkland Islands

• Tuesday, March 27th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile: News Briefs from The Santiago Times

  

  Headlines:
  BHP Billiton officially opens Spence mine; U.S. publication names Santander best bank in Chile; U.S. business funding copper thefts; Chile's GDP almost doubles in three years; Public transport is stressing commuters.

• Thursday, March 22nd 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Weekly Penguin News Update

  

  Heradlines: World's windiest marathon; Tourism work permit denied; FIDF remember; Rotterdam's on her own
  
  Fishing news: Licence revoked; Squid return to zones; SAFC: another non-starter

• Monday, March 19th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  ”Old fishing law needed updating,' says Falklands' Fisheries Director

  

  Government representatives from Argentina and the United Kingdom met in Buenos Aires during 14 - 15 March to analyse activities of the South Atlantic Fisheries Commission (SAFC), a request for bilateral co-operation favouring the conservation of fishing resources in that region.

• Monday, March 19th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  NZ minister to visit Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay

  

  New Zealand's Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters leaves Tuesday on a two-week visit of South America and the aim is to build closer political, economic, and personal links with the region, reports the Auckland press.

• Sunday, March 18th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  “Mummy's War” on Falkland's conflict ready to be aired

  

  Carol Thatcher's “Mummy's War”, a documentary on the 1982 Falkland Islands war will be aired next week in London, it was announced by the European press.

• Sunday, March 11th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Bush sorts friends from enemies in Latinamerica

  A close scrutiny of George W. Bush's five-nation Latin American tour reveals the degree of political calculation behind his stirring rhetoric, writes Justin Vogler.

• Saturday, March 10th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Winter time in Chile: clocks 60 minutes back

  At one o'clock Sunday, March 10th, Chileans will have to set clocks sixty minutes back officially signaling the beginning of winter time.

• Friday, March 9th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Kirchner and Chavez boost energy/farm cooperation

  President Nestor Kirchner and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez signed accords on Friday to boost energy and agriculture cooperation. The highlight was a treaty to work toward the creation of a South American organization to coordinate exports of natural gas, signed in a ceremony at Argentina's suburban presidential residence.