Mercosur

• Monday, November 20th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Pulp mills conflict: pickets begin “indefinite” blockade

  Argentine pickets resumed action Monday afternoon with the “indefinite” blockade of land access to Uruguay to protest the building of a pulp mill plant on the Uruguayan side of the river that divides the neighboring countries.

• Monday, November 20th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Brazilian foreign debt totals 174.5 billion US dollars

  Brazilian foreign debt totaled 174.560 billion US dollars at the end of October which represents a 13.7 billion US dollars increase, 8.5%, over September reported Monday the Central
  Bank.

• Monday, November 20th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Bachelet: nice to be in Venezuela, sorry New Zealand!

  “It's not just a protocol two days visit, it's a visit to confirm achievements which are good for Venezuela?Venezuela? ?my God I'm nuts, I mean New Zealand” said Chilean president Michelle Bachelet during one of the events prepared for her in New Zealand.

• Monday, November 20th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Major setback for García in Peruvian regional elections

  Peruvian president Alan García suffered Sunday a major setback in regional and municipal elections with his APRA party loosing control of most regions replaced in many cases by autonomous political movements according to the latest electoral results.

• Monday, November 20th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Landslide victory for ruling party in Paraguay

  Paraguay's ruling Partido Colorado won a landslide 75% of the country's 234 municipalities in Sunday's elections which also marked a record abstention of 40%, according to local electoral authorities.

• Sunday, November 19th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Bolivian governors unite against President Morales

  The elected governors of six of the nine departments which make up Bolivia, and belonging to opposition parties, have broken relations with President Evo Morales claiming he has violated constituent assembly regulations.

• Sunday, November 19th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Petrobras daily production reached 2.3 million bpd

  Brazil's government owned Petrobras averaged during October oil and gas production of 2.343.451 barrels which is 4.7% above the same month a year ago and 1.6% up from September 2006.

• Sunday, November 19th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  APEC pledges global trade but considers options

  Leaders from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum pledged to tackle a deadlock in global trade talks after ending Sunday their key regional summit in Vietnam but are also considering alternatives for when they meet next year in Australia.

• Saturday, November 18th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Pulp mills dispute: “no negotiations under pressure”

  Uruguayan authorities “will not negotiate under pressure” was the short message to the Spanish King envoy that arrived Friday in Montevideo acting as a “facilitator” in the controversy with Argentina over the construction of pulp mills.

• Saturday, November 18th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Industrial production up 7.3% in October

  Argentina's October industrial output expanded a smaller-than-expected 7.3%, with the automobile and construction sectors continuing to drive growth, the government said on Friday. Local analysts had forecast a 7.9% rise in industrial output.