Mercosur

• Tuesday, April 25th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Finland rejects involvement in Uruguay/Argentina dispute

  Finland will not be involved in the Uruguay/Argentina controversy over the construction of pulp mills in the Uruguay but fully supports the Finnish Botnia investment and the company's environmental responsibility.

• Monday, April 24th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Volcanic ash sickens hundreds in Peru

  The Peruvian government declared a state of emergency during the week end in southern towns that have been showered by ash from the Ubinas volcano and asked the military to help evacuate poor farming families from the area.

• Monday, April 24th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Venezuela makes it official: leaves CAN to join Mercosur

  The Andean Nations Community, (CAN), secretariat received last weekend Venezuela's official relinquishment from the regional bloc and a request for a meeting to discuss trade.

• Monday, April 24th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Garcia to the Peruvian presidential run off May 28

  Ultra nationalist leader Ollanta Humala and former president Alan Garcia will be disputing the Peruvian presidential run off next May 28, according to the latest figures from the country's Electoral Process Board, ONPE.

• Monday, April 24th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Chavez forecasts Sandinista victory in Nicaragua

  Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez forecasted a former Sandinista guerrilla leader's victory in Nicaragua's presidential election next November 5.

• Monday, April 24th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  “Until world tension abates”, oil prices will keep surging

  Ministers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, conceded on Monday in Doha there was nothing they could do to halt surging oil prices that threaten consumer nations' economies.

• Monday, April 24th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil forecasts a budget primary “floor surplus” of 4.25%

  Brazil's 2006 budget primary surplus will have a “floor of 4.25% of GDP” forecasted Finance minister Guido Mantega in Washington.

• Monday, April 24th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  WTO misses April agreement, “but we're not in deadlock”

  The World Trade Organisation (WTO) admitted Monday that plans for a major meeting this week will not be met but “we are not in deadlock”.

• Sunday, April 23rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile fights low U.S. dollar, plans coppers superplus investments investment in foreign markets.

  Chile's labor intensive fruit, wine and salmon export industries received good news Thursday when government officials announced plans to combat the falling price of the U.S. dollar.

• Sunday, April 23rd 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Chernobyl controversy: 9.000 or 100.000 cancer deaths?

  Some 5,000 people who were children and adolescents at the time of the world's worst-ever civil nuclear accident at Chernobyl, Ukraine, have so far been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, and there may be up to 9,000 excess cancer deaths, according to a new United Nations scientific study on the health impact of the disaster.