
A priest and a controversial former general is the most attractive ticket for voters in Paraguay, according to a poll by First Análisis y Estudios published in Asuncion's main daily ABC Color. The ticket comprised of Fernando Lugo and Lino Oviedo has a 27.3% support for the next presidential election, scheduled for April 2008.

Mercosur runs the risk of collapsing because it keeps adding members without consolidating as a customs union or having solved the serious tensions between big and junior partners, according to regional analysts.

Thousands of Argentine landmines which remain in the Falkland Islands could be successfully cleared sometime in the future.
This is the confident prediction of Landmine consultant Paddy Blagden, who headed a team from Cranfield University, which has just completed a feasibility study into minefield clearance in the islands.

The Royal Navy has today appointed a new Flag Officer for Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland. He is Rear Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt, a helicopter pilot in the Falklands War and later the captain and commander of a Type 23 frigate.

Bolivian businessmen showed some reticence about their country's full incorporation to Mercosur arguing it was a threat for the local agro-industry and could involve potential farm sales losses to the Community of Andean Nations.

Argentina's president Nestor Kirchner and First Lady Cristina Fernandez are considered the most influential personalities of the year in the country, from a list of a hundred outstanding figures, according to an opinion poll released Monday in Buenos Aires.

Uruguay and Argentina clashed Monday in The Hague before the International Court with bitter allegations indicating that the escalating controversy between neighboring countries over the building of pulp mills far from easing is turning more acrimonious. The only thing both sides agreed on was to request a second day of hearings.

Two environmental experts lashed out the Chilean and Argentine governments this week for their failure to address environmental issues currently damaging ecosystems and agriculture on both sides of the Andes.

President Evo Morales will officially formalize this week the request for Bolivia to become a full member of Mercosur, announced Monday in Brasilia Bolivian Foreign Affairs minister David Choquehuanca.
President Néstor Kirchner's likely decision to send in Vice-President Daniel Scioli to run for governor in Argentina's richest district next year would not reflect so much his heartfelt desires, but sheer political need after a tiny province dealt him a severe blow.