Mercosur

• Thursday, April 20th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Uruguayan economy robust but needs more “fiscal discipline”

  The International Monetary Fund called on Uruguay for more “fiscal discipline” and reforms to the pensions and finance systems in the latest edition of its World Economic Outlook.

• Thursday, April 20th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil celebrates Friday oil self sufficiency

  Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will announce Friday that the country has become self sufficient in oil with a daily production of 1.9 million barrels per day.

• Thursday, April 20th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  IMF forecasts 4.3% Latinamerican growth in 2006

  Latin America will continue on its growth track and the regional economy should expand 4.3% in 2006 according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Economic Outlook released Wednesday.

• Thursday, April 20th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Panama Canal expansion to create 240,000 jobs

  The planned expansion of the Panama Canal, to be financed by users, is expected to create some 240,000 jobs, said the water-way deputy manager Manuel Benitez.

• Thursday, April 20th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Kirchner calls for 90 days truce in pulp mills dispute

  Argentine president Nestor Kirchner once again called on the European companies, Finnish Botnia and Spanish Ence, building pulp mills in Uruguay to temporarily suspend construction.

• Thursday, April 20th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Cuba celebrates 45th anniversary of Bay of Pigs victory

  Forty-five years after the Cuban communist regime successfully defeated a Untied States supported invasion in the Bay of Pigs, Fidel Castro accused Washington of continued harassment and pledged he would never “beg” the US for peace.

• Wednesday, April 19th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Proposal to hike fines on Falklands licenced vessels

  Tierra del Fuego Senator Mario Daniele presented a bill proposing stronger sanctions on those foreign flagged fishing vessels caught in Argentina's EEZ operating with “illegitimate” licences extended by the Falkland Islands government.

• Wednesday, April 19th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  British MEPs on Gibraltar fact finding visit

  Conservative Member of the European Parliament for the South West and Gibraltar Mr Neil Parish visited his constituents on the Rock last week and was briefed on the latest developments in Gibraltar.

• Wednesday, April 19th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  The US Navy is “not going to intimidate us”

  Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said Wednesday that the United States military exercises in the Caribbean “are not going to intimidate us”.

• Wednesday, April 19th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Mercosur is “not useful” for Uruguay's objectives

  Uruguayan president Tabare Vazquez said that Mercosur is “not useful” to his country's aspirations and proposed deep changes in the functioning of the South American block which also includes Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay.