Mercosur

• Saturday, July 29th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina/Chile “relations of trust” badly damaged

  Chilean president Michelle Bachelet in a letter sent to her counterpart Nestor Kirchner complained that Argentina's decision to sharply increase the price of natural gas it sells to Chile had badly damaged the “relations of trust” between the two countries.

• Saturday, July 29th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Uruguay repays IMF 900 million US dollars

  Uruguay announced Friday the advance repayment of 900 million US dollars to the International Monetary Fund, which represents an overall saving of 40 million US dollars in interests.

• Saturday, July 29th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Peru's Garcia returns pledging to battle poverty

  Sixteen years after ending his first term in economic chaos and political violence, Alan Garcia, 57, returned to the presidency of Peru on Friday July 28, pledging to battle poverty.

• Saturday, July 29th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Highest skyscraper in Panama City

  A Spanish company has begun building in Panama what will be the highest skyscraper in Latinamerica: 350 metres high, 97 floors, a hotel, 333 residential apartments, offices, shops, revolving restaurant and a helipad among other facilities.

• Friday, July 28th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Korean leading candidate to replace Kofi Annan

  Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon came top in a straw poll of candidates for the next UN secretary-general at the UN Security Council in New York.

• Thursday, July 27th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Colombia to privatise part of state oil group

  Colombia will privatize up to 20 percent of state oil firm Ecopetrol in a bid to draw investment needed to modernize the country's ailing petroleum sector, the government said yesterday.

• Thursday, July 27th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina: Interior minister apologizes for crime wave comment

  Interior Minister Aníbal Fernandez yesterday apologized for having said two weeks ago that there wasn't a crime wave in Argentina.
  “I put my foot in it. I apologize,” said the minister.

• Thursday, July 27th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile's Bachelet: Won't Be Pressured On UN Council Vote

  President Michelle Bachelet said yesterday she will not be pressured on Chile's vote in the election of a new regional member of the United Nations Security Council.

• Thursday, July 27th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil's Embraer sells 30 jets to US airline

  The Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer has sold 30 E-175 regional jets to Republic Airlines Inc., its first sale of the jet to the US market, Embraer said in a statement.

• Thursday, July 27th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Castro jokes he won't be in office at age 100

  Three weeks before his 80th birthday, Cuban President Fidel Castro has joked that he has no plans to be in power when he is 100 years old.