Mercosur

• Monday, December 4th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  “Argentina/Uruguay relations at their worst in 15 years”

  Uruguayan Economy minister Danilo Astori said that relations with Argentina are “at their worst moment in fifteen years” and regretted that Brazil has adopted an “indifference” attitude regarding Uruguay's claims in Mercosur.

• Monday, December 4th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Magallanes Region has lowest unemployment in Chile

  Magallanes again ranks as the Region with the lowest unemployment rate in Chile according to the latest report from the National Statistics Institute.

• Monday, December 4th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Cattle produce more greenhouse gases than driving cars

  Cattle-rearing generates more global warming greenhouse gases, as measured in CO2 equivalent, than transportation, and smarter production methods, including improved animal diets to reduce enteric fermentation and consequent methane emissions, are urgently needed, according to a new United Nations report.

• Monday, December 4th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  OECD anticipates weakest growth in four years

  The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD said world economic expansion will fade in 2007 to its weakest in four years, dragged by a U.S. slowdown that will force the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.

• Monday, December 4th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  London's plan to grant independence to Falklands

  The “Route to Independence” program which allegedly was started by the Foreign Office in 1983, following the South Atlantic conflict has a final and definitive objective: the independence of the Falkland Islands argues Argentine *Senator Rodolfo Terragno.

• Monday, December 4th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  World's largest cruise struck by Norovirus

  More than 380 passengers and crew aboard the world's largest cruise ship were sickened by a virus during a seven-day Caribbean cruise, cruise officials said Sunday.

• Sunday, December 3rd 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Venezuelans to vote on president

  Venezuelans cast ballots today in an election polls show will hand President Hugo Chavez six more years in office after he spent the nation's oil wealth on helping the poor and bolstering anti-U.S. sentiment in the region.

• Sunday, December 3rd 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  New sun-protection pill arrives in Chile

  A new kind of sun protection has arrived in Chile, in the form of capsules that can be taken orally once a day to increase the skin's tolerance to ultraviolet (UV) rays. The pill, called “Tan Optimizer,” is now available in Chile's pharmacies.

• Sunday, December 3rd 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Pinochet momentarily “stable and in good condition”

  Former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet suffered a heart attack on Sunday and has undergone a bypass operation which his son said brought him back from the brink of death. Pinochet was rushed to a military hospital in the Chilean capital Santiago around 2 a.m. (0500 GMT).

• Sunday, December 3rd 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Chavez with significant lead in vote count

  Polls officially closed Sunday in Venezuela's presidential race in which left-wing populist Hugo Chavez was widely expected to win re-election to a six-year term.