Mercosur

• Monday, August 28th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Peru/Colombia confirm closer links

  Peru and Colombia Foreign Affairs ministers reiterated in Lima their commitment to increase trade ties with Central America and helping Colombia become a full member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, APEC.

• Monday, August 28th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Mexico's electoral court ruling confirms Calderón

  Mexico's Federal Electoral Tribunal, Trife, rejected Monday claims that July 2 presidential election was riddled with fraud, virtually confirming Conservative Felipe Calderón from the ruling party as the country's next president.

• Monday, August 28th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Jimmy Carter calls Blair “subservient” to the White House

  Former US President Jimmy Carter accused Tony Blair on Sunday of being “subservient” to the White House, saying the British prime minister failed to constrain the George Bush administration on Iraq.

• Sunday, August 27th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Tropical Storm Ernesto gains strength.

  Ernesto's top winds reach 75 mph, making it the 2006 season's first hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center,while Debby has been downgraded to a tropical storm depression in the mid-Atlantic.

• Sunday, August 27th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Maya civilization collapsed upon learning kings weren't gods

  The decline of the Maya civilization began some 1,100 year ago when millions of Indians working on the contruction of tall pyramidal temples and palaces learned that their kings weren't gods, Spanish anthropologist Andres Ciudad told EFE.

• Sunday, August 27th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Crime & violence on the rise

  Crime in Argentina ? which once boasted one of the highest security standards in Latin America ? rose 53 percent over the decade up to 2005 and by 121 percent from 1985. And one of the main features of that increase is a higher degree of violence, an expert said yesterday.

• Sunday, August 27th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Blair to face the music

  Prime Minister Tony Blair got back to work yesterday after a Caribbean vacation to face a potentially rocky autumn and a desk piled high with problems.

• Sunday, August 27th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Venezuela's U.N. bid thriving

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his country is gaining broad support in its bid for a U.N. Security Council seat, even as the United States tries to persuade governments to vote against Venezuela.

• Sunday, August 27th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Mexicans await election verdict

  Mexico's top election tribunal announced that it will release on Monday its ruling on the 375 challenges to the July 2 national election in which the two top vote-getters were conservative Felipe Calderon and leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

• Saturday, August 26th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  New case of mad cow confirmed in Canada

  Canadian authorities confirmed Friday that a mature beef cow from the province of Alberta had mad-cow disease or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). This is the eighth case reported in Canada.