Mercosur

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

  Massive redundancies in Varig

  Brazilian flag carrier Varig, which was recently sold to one of its former subsidiary, announced Friday that it will lay off 5,500 workers as part of a broad restructuring plan.

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

  Kirchner's public opinion standing strong: 75%

  Argentine president Nestor Kirchner support remained strong in June, above 75%, although four points below the May reading, according to the latest public opinion poll from consultants CEOP released in Buenos Aires.

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

  Why it's best to be a Dane or Swiss

  According to the first “World map of happiness” created at the University of Leicester, Danes and Swiss are top of the list of 177 countries and Zimbabwe and Burundi in the other extreme.

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

  Sir Nicholas re-elected chairman of UK/FI Group

  Sir Nicholas Winterton, MP for Macclesfield has been re-elected unanimously and unopposed as chairman of the United Kingdom-Falkland Islands All-Party Parliamentary Group.

• 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.