Mercosur

• Sunday, June 18th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Anti-whaling alliance winning this year's conference

  Japan's attempt to revive commercial whaling looks dead for another year after the country lost a third crucial vote at an international meeting. Conservationists and anti-whaling nations had feared the pro-whaling camp led by Japan, Norway and Iceland might have got over the line at this year's International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Caribbean island of St Kitts.

• Sunday, June 18th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Bolivia's ambitious plan to reduce poverty

  Bolivia announced a massive plan involving 12 billion US dollars to reduce poverty and creating jobs.

• Sunday, June 18th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Venezuela and pulp mills conflict, “no risk for Mercosur”

  Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim emphasized Sunday that Venezuela's membership and the current pulp mills dispute between Argentina and Uruguay pose no threat or risk to Mercosur.

• Saturday, June 17th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Pulp mills dispute: Argentina talks of “political solution”

  Argentine Interior Minister Anibal Fernandez said on Friday there “was always an open door” to find a “political solution” to the dispute with Uruguay over the construction of two pulp mills which is currently under consideration at the Hague International Court.

• Saturday, June 17th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  US current account deficit drops 6,5%

  The U.S. current account deficit fell 6.5% to 208.7 billion US dollars in the first quarter of this year, the Commerce Department reported Friday. The figure equaled 6.4% of gross domestic product but this is tipped to rise next quarter as oil prices rise.

• Saturday, June 17th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Japan suffers two defeats in Whaling meeting

  Australia and other anti-whaling nations achieved two victories on Friday at the International Whaling Commission's annual general meeting currently underway in the Caribbean island of St. Kitts.

• Saturday, June 17th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  UN warns urgent action needed to protect world oceans

  Swift and wide ranging actions are needed to conserve the world's entire marine environment amid fears that humankind's exploitation of the deep seas and open oceans is rapidly passing the point of no return, according to a United Nations-backed report issued Friday that calls for urgent measures to conserve areas where more than 90% of the planet's living biomass lives.

• Saturday, June 17th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Fuel costs sink Carnival cruises profits

  The world's biggest cruise firm has seen profits fall in the second quarter amid rising fuel costs and lower demand for Caribbean cruises.

• Saturday, June 17th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Fifty years identity secrecy for torturers in Chile

  Chile's Supreme Court ruled Friday that authorities can withhold for 50 years the identity of people found to have inflicted torture on political prisoners during the 1973 to 1990 Pinochet regime.

• Saturday, June 17th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Repsol-YPF privileges Argentina over Bolivia

  Repsol-YPF has plans to speed up the investment program in Argentina to help compensate losses in Bolivia, announced Friday the company's CEO Antonio Brufau in Madrid.