Mercosur

• 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.

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

  Mexicans consider Calderon winner, but support vote recount

  A majority of Mexicans believe Conservative Felipe Calderón won the contested July 2 presidential election but also consider necessary a vote recount, as demanded by populist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, according to a public opinion poll released Thursday.

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

  Peru's Garcia describes himself as a “pragmatic Socialist”

  Peruvian elected president Alan Garcia who tomorrow Friday takes office said he feels closer to the “modern left”, which he considers is represented by Brazilian president Lula da Silva and Chile's Michelle Bachelet, rather than that of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez , Bolivian Evo Morales or Cuba's Fidel Castro.