Mercosur

• Tuesday, June 27th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina considers ignoring Falklands' oil agreement
  Malvinas claim DVD for all foreign tourist

  Hydrocarbons exploration in the Malvinas basin figures as the main agenda issue of the standing Parliamentary Observatory committee which will be officially inaugurated next Thursday in Argentina's Congress.

• Monday, June 26th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Lula da Silva's administration, the second most corrupt

  Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva administration is the second most corrupt in the country's recent history according to a survey from the Perseu Abramo Foundation belonging to the Workers Party which last Saturday confirmed Lula's re-election bid.

• Monday, June 26th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Cuba to sign economic treaty in Mercosur summit

  Cuba will sign a multilateral economic complementation agreement with Mercosur at the end of July when the group's presidential summit scheduled to be held in Cordoba, Argentina. However the participation of Fidel Castro has not been confirmed.

• Monday, June 26th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Good and bad news for Uruguay's pulp industry

  A Canadian forestry company has shown interest in establishing a pulp mill in Uruguay, which would be the fourth undertaking of this nature, reports the Montevideo press.

• Monday, June 26th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Colombian guerrilla proposes “political solution”

  Colombia's largest guerrilla group called for a political solution to the country's decades long internal armed conflict with a “prisoners exchange” as the first step in that direction.

• Monday, June 26th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  EU stands firm ahead of WTO meeting

  France and Finland said Monday in Paris that the European Union will make no new tariff reduction proposals for farm produce at the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting next Thursday in Geneva.

• Monday, June 26th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Buenos Aires and Montevideo among cheapest cities

  Moscow has replaced Tokyo as the world's most expensive city, according to the latest Cost of Living Survey from Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Seoul is in second place, climbing three places since last year and Tokyo moves down two positions in the rankings to take third place, followed by Hong Kong.

• Sunday, June 25th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina targets Falklands' “sovereignty umbrella”

  A “drastic change” in Argentina's policy towards the Falklands/Malvinas dispute including a dismantling of the “sovereignty umbrella” was openly admitted by President Nestor Kirchner's administration in reports published over the weekend in Buenos Aires main dailies and attributed to sources with access to the “president's office”.

• Saturday, June 24th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Kirchner's populist pals criticized

  A day after President Néstor Kirchner spoke up for the presidents of Bolivia and Venezuela in a joint press conference with the Spanish Primer Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Spanish press was not satisfied with the visiting head-of-state's words.

• Saturday, June 24th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Varig, and 28.000 Brazilians overseas grounded

  A bankruptcy judge annulled Friday the sale of Brazil flag carrier Varig airlines after a workers' group failed to make the first required payment. The decision threatens to leave thousands of Brazilians football fans stranded in Germany.