Mercosur

• Thursday, April 13th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Bolivia demands back taxes from oil corporations

  Bolivia is claiming 40 million US dollars in back taxes from oil corporations, a sum which could jump to 200 million US dollars if fines and administrative costs are included, said Wednesday an official source from the Bolivian government.

• Thursday, April 13th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Chilean peso at record high rings alarm bells

  Chile's Peso gained a 14- week high against the US dollar as expectations that higher interest rates and surging copper exports at record prices will spur increased inflows.

• Thursday, April 13th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil-Chile strengthen strategic alliance

  Presidents of Brazil and Chile agreed this week to strengthen a strategic alliance and boost bilateral trade and cooperation.

• Thursday, April 13th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Humala demands referendum on US/Peru free trade agreement

  United States and Peru signed Wednesday a bilateral free trade treaty - two years in the making - at the headquarters of the Organization of American States in Washington.

• Thursday, April 13th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Record cruise visitors in Valparaiso and Puerto Montt

  Chilean port cities of Valparaiso and Puerto Montt registered unprecedented numbers of visitors during the summer months, with more 80,000 tourists arriving in each city.

• Wednesday, April 12th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Spain confirms huge arms deal with Venezuela

  Venezuela will buy ten military transport planes and eight patrol boats from Spain despite the United States' attempts to block the deal, a top Venezuelan navy official said.

• Wednesday, April 12th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Latinamerica diminishing share of world GDP

  Debt, inflation and Asia's strong economic growth forced Latinamerica's share of the world's GDP to drop 1.8 points in the last quarter of a century, according to international consultants based on IMF/World Bank reports.

• Wednesday, April 12th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Support for Lula's reelection bid remains strong

  Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva popularity remains intact although support for his re-election has lost almost five points from February to April, according to the latest public opinion poll from the Sao Paulo Sensus Institute.

• Wednesday, April 12th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Drugs seized on plane from Venezuela

  Authorities discovered 5,500 kilograms (12,100 pounds) of cocaine on board a plane that arrived at a Gulf coast airport from Caracas, the Mexican attorney general's office said Tuesday.

• Wednesday, April 12th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  London: Operators to reveal new-look Dome

  The new operators of the ill-fated Millennium Dome will show how the inside of the giant Greenwich structure is taking new shape ahead of its re-opening next year.