Mercosur

• Monday, August 7th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Alaska oil field shutdown forces new record

  Oil reached Monday a new record, above 78 US dollars a barrel, after British Petroleum announced it would have to close one of the largest oilfields in the United States, in Alaska because of a pipeline leak.

• Monday, August 7th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Uribe promises “peace talks” but security is priority

  Colombian President Alvaro Uribe inaugurated an unprecedented second term Monday, promising to seek an elusive peace with leftist rebels but warning that security remains a priority for his administration in a country ravaged by killings and kidnappings.

• Sunday, August 6th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Evo's ?refounding' begins today

  President Evo Morales' drive to reinvent Bolivia takes a big step today with the opening of a convention to write a new Constitution aimed at ending the centuries-old supremacy of the European-descended minority.

• Sunday, August 6th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile and Colombia start free trade talks

  Chile and Colombia announced they have agreed to start negotiations toward a free trade, and said they have settled a controversy over exports of Colombian sugar to Chile.

• Sunday, August 6th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  PAN, PRI accept Mexico tribunal decision for partial vote recount

  The representative of Felipe Calderon's National Action Party, to the nation's electoral organizations, G. Martinez, accepted Saturday the Mexican electoral tribunal's decision to carry out a partial recount of ballots from the July 2 presidential election.

• Sunday, August 6th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Blair 'planning another year as PM'

  Tony Blair is planning to stay on as Prime Minister for at least another year, it has been reported.

• Saturday, August 5th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  G-20 nations push to revive WTO talks in Brazil next month

  The G-20 group of developing nations will attempt to help revive the collapse of World Trade Organization talks for a global trade treaty at a meeting next month in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said Wednesday.

• Saturday, August 5th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  EU approves 'no smoking' job advert

  Pro and anti-smoking groups alike have criticised a European Union ruling that companies can legally refuse to employ smokers.

• Saturday, August 5th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Mexican electoral court rejects recount

  Mexico's top electoral court on Saturday rejected a ballot-by-ballot recount in the disputed presidential election, angering supporters of leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador who have kept the nation in turmoil for weeks.

• Friday, August 4th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina's July inflation 0.6% and 5.5% in seven months

  In spite of a surge in services' costs Argentina's Consumer Price Index rose 0.6% in July, 0.1% higher than last May and June, but below the 1% of July last year, according to the latest release from the Statistics and Census Office, INDEC.